Madison, Wis – On Friday, the contested case hearing for the Enbridge Line 5 Relocation Project wrapped up with the testimony of several Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources experts who confirmed the Line 5 Relocation planning was not only scrutinized by DNR staff, but that the project plans went out of their way to avoid rare plants and monitor post construction water impacts for unprecedented lengths of time.
According to DNR Waterways Program Director Ben Callan, when asked how post construction monitoring for the Line 5 Relocation Project differed from that of other projects he’s seen, “I haven’t been involved with a project that has required I believe it’s six years of monitoring for water resources. It’s often, in my experience, been a year or two. As I said earlier, not only is it the physical characteristics those resources, but it’s also the chemical and biological monitoring as well.”
Callan additionally added that he believed the DNR appropriately scrutinized Enbridge’s plan to install pipeline beneath waterways, saying, “Based on a lot of what I just described…ensuring that the proposed activity limits water quality impacts associated with construction, isolates the work-zone in order to do that, is prepared to limit the amount of time or duration of those direct impacts on the system…completing it under time constraints effectively and then reestablishing those preexisting conditions regarding elevations and substrate and stable banks, there should not be long-term impacts on public trust issues associated with that.”
Also on Friday, Stacy Rowe, a Conservation Biologist with the Wisconsin DNR explained the extent Enbridge went to avoid impacting rare plants in the project area. When asked whether Enbridge did surveying beyond what was required, Rowe noted, “Yes, as a result of finding those additional species and knowing that potentially there would be more in the area and on public lands, Enbridge did voluntarily agree to survey the entire route located on Iron County forest lands to ensure that they knew exactly where all the rare plant species were located, and so they can avoid them.”
The contested case hearing began on August 12th and ran until today, October 3rd. A decision is expected by the Administrative Law Judge in the coming months.
The hearing is a result of opponents of the project initiating the “contested case” process challenging the permits issued by the Wisconsin DNR for the Line 5 relocation project. The challenge comes even though the DNR spent more than four years compiling and analyzing data, held multiple public hearings and comment periods, and relied on the most state-of-the-art modeling available to make their decision. A nearly 900-page DNR environmental impact statement scientifically and legally justified the issuance of project permits. The DNR also included 231 conditions on the permits to require the strongest environmental standards possible.
Line 5 is unique because it not only moves crude oil that is refined into transportation fuels, but it also transports natural gas liquids that are made into propane. In fact, a public comment submitted to the DNR by major propane supplier Plains Midstream sent a critical warning that a rejection of the Line 5 relocation project would likely send Wisconsin into a propane state of emergency, leading to supply shortages and massive price increases.
During the Wisconsin DNR’s permitting process, over two dozen of Wisconsin’s leading organizations representing farmers, small businesses, labor unions and papermakers submitted comments in favor of the relocation project. Those groups included the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, Wisconsin Propane Gas Association, Wisconsin Building Trades Council, Wisconsin Counties Association, Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Wisconsin Independent Businesses, Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Wisconsin Paper Council, Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, Wisconsin Pipe Trades, Wisconsin Restaurant Association, Wisconsin Soybean Association, Cooperative Network, Dairy Business Association, Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin, Construction Business Group, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, Midwest Food Products Association, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, Northern Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council and Teamsters Local 346. In fact, an analysis of public records found that Wisconsinites supported the Line 5 relocation project by a 2-to-1 margin during the DNR comment period in 2022.
