Sierra Club, eco groups break record for world’s largest display of origami fish to protest Line 5

Enbridge is working to reroute Line 5 off the Bad River reservation in northern Wisconsin, but the tribe is fighting the permit process. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)
The Sierra Club and a coalition of other environmental groups announced Thursday that they had broken the world record for the largest display of origami fish in an effort to bring attention to Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline, which passes through northern Wisconsin and Michigan.
Line 5 has been the target of sustained activism for years, with environmental groups and Native American tribes arguing the pipeline’s continued existence puts the water supply for thousands of residents at risk.
By next year, Enbridge, the Canadian company that owns the pipeline, must reroute a part of the pipeline that runs through a portion of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribe’s reservation. As the company works through the permit process for moving the pipeline, the tribe and environmental groups have pushed the state Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers not to approve the permits.
The tribe says the pipeline’s continued operation, even if it no longer runs across tribal land, will harm water quality in the watershed, encourage the growth of invasive species and damage wetlands, diminishing their ability to filter pollutants out of runoff before reaching surface waters.
At a two-day hearing in May, tribal members testified against the Army Corps’ approval of the permit. A series of hearings are set to be held from August-October on a challenge to the DNR’s permitting decision.
The Sierra Club organized the origami fish project to bring attention to the years of activism against Line 5 and the continued fight against its path through the Bad River reservation and under the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas.
The Trump Administration, as part of its effort to increase production of oil and other fossil fuels, has expedited permit approval of a new pipeline tunnel in Michigan.
The previous origami fish record was 18,303. With the help of folders from all 50 states, Canada and Mexico, the Sierra Club has created a display of more than 70,000 origami fish. On Thursday, the fish were put on display in the Sierra Club of Wisconsin’s Madison office as staff continued pinning them onto boards. A press conference about Line 5’s effect on Wisconsin’s water was held in front of the boards full of paper fish.
State Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) told the Wisconsin Examiner the fish project was a symbol of people’s ability to work together to fight injustice.
“You topple regimes with people power,” she said.
Hong added that even if the Line 5’s permits are approved, the “fight to protect water has renewed energy” because of it.
Despite the years of activism and push for the DNR not to approve the permits, there is little the department can do to stop the project. The DNR’s authority is limited so that if the proposed project fits within state laws, the permits must be approved, something that Hong said needs to be changed.
“We certainly have to look at amending those laws and holding polluters responsible, not compromising hundreds, thousands of people’s drinking water for tens or hundreds of jobs,” she said.
The fish display will be available to view at the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee on Saturday.
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