Amelia Schafer
ICT
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – Construction on a controversial oil-pipeline in northern Wisconsin resulted in a leak of natural gas liquids Tuesday less than five miles east of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Reservation.
Drone footage shared on social media by a Bad River tribal member depicted large white plumes of smoke emitting from the rupture, which required the 600-mile-long pipeline to be shut down.
Line 5 remained shut down Wednesday afternoon as a result of the incident, according to a spokesperson for Enbridge, the Canadian energy company operating the pipeline. It is unclear when the pipeline will begin to operate again.
At approximately 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday, a parked, unoccupied semi-truck rolled into the pipeline, striking it and resulting in the release of natural gas liquids, Juli Kellner, a spokesperson for Enbridge, told ICT. The section of pipeline was exposed at an open excavation site for a valve repair project near Saxon, Wisconsin, The section of pipe was immediately isolated, Kellner said.
The collision occurred on a section of the pipeline approximately 1.5 miles away from an ongoing project to re-route the pipeline so that it no longer passes through the Bad River Reservation, according to public records.
Local emergency response crews, including those from the Bad River Reservation, remained on stand-by Wednesday afternoon. Line 5 is shut down as response efforts continue.
No injuries have been reported, Sheriff Paul Samardich of the Iron County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Several nearby homes were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
To ensure the safety of the community, all power had been shut off in the affected area and a temporary no-fly zone had been established. Members of the public were asked to avoid the area.
Enbridge isolated the affected section of the pipeline with local and tribal emergency responders on site, the sheriff’s department said.
“To be clear, natural gas liquids were released – not natural gas – which is a different product,” Kellner told ICT in an email. “Natural gas liquids are used to make propane for heating homes and drying crops, as well as the building blocks for thousands of everyday products, including plastics, medical supplies, electronics, and clothing.
Kellner said more information would be shared as it becomes available.
The gas leak was not moving towards the reservation Wednesday afternoon, but the tribe will continue to monitor it until further notice, according to a statement from Bad River Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle on Tuesday.
“The Bad River Tribe has Fire and First Responder Services remaining on standby at the site area until discharged along with other [regional] emergency response services,” Arbuckle wrote.
Natural gas liquids, the substances leaking as a result of the spill, include ethane, propane, butane, isobutane and natural gasoline all of which are separated from natural gas during processing. These fuels serve as feedstocks in the production of plastics, medical supplies, electronics, clothing and fertilizers.
The project site is not related to an ongoing $1 billion reroute project of Line 5 around the exterior boundaries of the Bad River Reservation. The pipeline, built in 1953, carries up to 23 million gallons of oil per day from Superior, Wisconsin through Michigan, ending in Sarnia, Ontario.
Bad River sued the company in 2019, demanding it shut down the pipeline and remove a 12 mile section of it from the tribe’s lands.
In late July, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld previous opinions that the pipeline is trespassing on Bad River’s land and allowed the company more time to complete its on-going reroute project.
Federal appeals court: Oil pipeline trespassing on Wisconsin tribal land
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