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Photo: “Shut Down Line 5” and “Stop Line 5” sign outside the site of a public hearing in Ashland, Wisc. on a draft environmental assessment of Enbridge’s proposal to reroute the pipeline on June 4, 2024. (Danielle Kaeding / WPR)
A Lake Superior tribe and Wisconsin environmental groups are challenging state permits issued to Canadian energy firm Enbridge for its Line 5 reroute.
As Danielle Kaeding reports, the company wants to build a new stretch of the oil and gas pipeline around the Bad River tribe’s reservation.
Last month, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a wetland and waterway permit and a permit to manage stormwater runoff for the Line 5 reroute.
The company proposed the project after Bad River sued Enbridge to shut down the pipeline on tribal lands.
Bad River is now suing over the state’s decision.
The tribe and environmental groups want a contested case hearing on the permits.
They say the project fails to meet state water quality standards and environmental laws.
Bad River Tribal Chair Robert Blanchard says there’s a lot at stake.
“It’s really going to affect a lot of the things that we do here, and the way we do things here on the reservation as far as our way of life.”
The project would cross nearly 200 waterways and disturb around 100 wetlands.
Ultimately, the tribe and groups want to reverse the state’s decision on the permits.
An Enbridge spokesperson says the challenges delay a major economic boost for northern Wisconsin communities.
The Wisconsin DNR declined to comment.
Leaders across Indian Country have concerns about the incoming Trump Administration. But at this year’s White House Tribal Nations Summit in the nation’s capital, they say there are many recent gains made nationally and locally.
Matt Laslo reports from Washington.
Many tribal leaders are bracing for a return of President-elect Donald Trump.
They remember the chaos of, say, the more than month-long government shutdown of 2018.
But at this winter’s Tribal Nation’s Summit Vice President Kamala Harris reminded attendees that the nearly three million people who rely on the Indian Health Service are now insulated from any potential future shutdowns.
“I am proud to report that for the first time ever, we made it so that IHS will now continue to receive funding even if the federal government shuts down. Which, of course, means that no matter what happens, people will continue to get the care that they need and deserve. It’s just a matter of dignity and what is right.”
Like many elders, ahead of President Trump’s second term, Snoqualmie Tribal Chair Robert de los Angeles says he’s “nervous”.
“He has control of the Republican House and Senate and, so to speak, the Supreme Court, so pretty much he can do whatever he wants to do.”
De los Angeles is especially watching the new so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead, with a mandate to upend the federal bureaucracy.
De los Angeles fears they may force out many of the record number of Native Americans and Alaska Natives employed by the federal government.
“Unfortunately, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. That’s unfortunate. That’s something that we’re just going to have to work through, because, I mean, we don’t have the power to remove him. Only the people do. But yet, you know, we’ll see what happens.”
But de los Angeles isn’t afraid.
He rests in the knowledge that tribes are sovereign nations, and he knows his ancestors survived presidents of all stripes over the centuries.
De los Angeles says leaders across Indian Country plan to hold the U.S. government accountable, no matter who occupies the White House.
“It is written that you take care of education and health for tribes and whatnot. So it’s written in the treaties.”
Even so, tribal leaders are bracing.
Chairwoman Tanya Lewis of Arizona’s Yavapai-Apache Nation worries a new era is quickly going to replace the good feelings that marked the past four years.
“I feel that it will.”
Still, Lewis and others say their improved relationships with local leaders are going to serve as a backstop for any adverse policies coming out of Washington.
“Our governor in Arizona, she’s fabulous. I love her. She’s been great.”
This story comes from The LCB.
More than 30 U.S. lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden to free Native activist Leonard Peltier before Biden leaves office.
In a letter last week, the lawmakers cite Peltier’s advanced age and poor health saying clemency is his last remaining hope for freedom.
Peltier has spent nearly 50 years in prison.
He was convicted for the 1975 deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Peltier has long maintained his innocence.
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