MADISON, Wis. — State officials are demanding a construction pause on the Enbridge Line 5 reroute project after a gas leak began in Iron County.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said it is “immensely frustrated” that the Canada-based energy company has left questions unanswered about the leak, as well as other recent events of noncompliance, in a Aug. 27 letter to Enbridge:
“The department requests that you halt work on the pipeline re-routing project until this event on the existing pipeline is sufficiently resolved and Enbridge has demonstrated that measures are in place to prevent future spill events related to all pipeline work.”
Enbridge said a valve site began leaking natural gas liquids when an unoccupied semi-truck rolled into an excavation site and struck the pipeline on Tuesday. Line 5 was shut down as dozens of Enbridge personnel and Wisconsin hazmat crews work to control the ongoing leak.
The DNR letter demands answers to over 20 questions, including how much vapor is being released at the valve site and what Enbridge’s timeline is for mitigation efforts.
An update from Enbridge on Wednesday said they estimate Line 5 will return to service between Aug. 31 and Sept. 5:
“Enbridge is working alongside its impacted customers to mitigate the impact of this outage. This includes redirecting volumes across the Enbridge network, increasing connectivity and capacity where possible and working with parties on a regional basis to limit disruptions.”
The DNR is working with the state Department of Health Services to monitor public health impacts and asks Enbridge for air monitoring data, as well as information about the evacuation radius and any odors associated with the leak.
The letter also asks Enbridge to establish regular communication with the Wisconsin Tribal Nations and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission about remediation efforts after the gas leak, “as well as previous compliance-related incidents associated with Enbridge projects over the past several weeks and months.”
Construction of the Line 5 reroute project started in February and has since faced other stoppages as legal disputes continue in Wisconsin and Michigan over the 645-mile pipeline that runs from Superior to Sarnia, Ontario. Enbridge was ordered to remove the section of pipeline that crosses the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation in 2023 and continues to face legal challenges as the tribe and conservation groups seek to shut down the pipeline altogether.
