Judge Limits Line 5 Reroute by Pausing Four Water Crossings

Overview

• An Iron County Circuit Court ruling issued a partial stay that stops work at four specific waterway crossings and leaves most other construction in place until the court lifts the order.
• The decision targets Enbridge’s plan to build a new 41-mile segment of the Line 5 pipeline to route around the Bad River Band reservation in northern Wisconsin.
• Judge John Anderson questioned the permitting method for crossings on property the company does not own and wrote that the practice may rest on tenuous legal footing.
• Enbridge still lacks permits to build in navigable waters, though state approvals allow most work on dry land to continue.
• Separate litigation continues in Michigan after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Attorney General Dana Nessel’s state case to seek a Line 5 shutdown to proceed in state court.