The Line 5 oil and natural gas pipeline across northern Wisconsin went back online Monday, three weeks after a broken valve caused 1.3 million gallons of natural gas liquids to spill into the nearby Iron County town of Saxon, the pipeline’s operator Enbridge said in a news release. 

The spill occurred Aug. 25 when a truck rolled forward and broke the valve as crews worked on the controversial reroute of Line 5’s path across the state from Canada. Enbridge immediately began working to bypass the broken valve and get the pipeline back up and running despite warnings from the state Department of Natural Resources that it was doing that construction without the proper permitting. 

The DNR issued a notice of noncompliance to Enbridge last week ordering it to halt its work. Despite that warning, Enbridge completed the work and said in its news release that “work continues at the site focused on safe access, environmental testing and remediation.” The company said it has worked closely with federal and local agencies to protect health and safety and that “we continue to work” with the DNR on the “relevant permitting and separately on environmental conditions at the incident site.” 

“Ongoing environmental monitoring at the site continues,” Enbridge stated. “Wildlife has not been impacted. Testing of surface water and from a nearby residential well continues to show no impacts. Water monitoring wells continue to show no contamination. Soil and water monitoring are in place, as are plans to test, remove and properly dispose of the soil in the trench.”

Since the spill, the company has argued it needs to get the pipeline back up and running as soon as possible because the fossil fuels it transports are too important. 

“Line 5 is critical infrastructure, securely supplying 10 refineries and propane production facilities that deliver energy to millions of people in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions,” the company news release states. 

Meanwhile, environmental activists, members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and elected officials have continued to argue that the spill is confirmation that the pipeline has always been a risk to Wisconsin’s environment and should be permanently shut down.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has told the oil and gas company Enbridge to halt construction on the Line 5 pipeline across northern Wisconsin after a massive spill of natural gas liquids in Iron County late last month. 

The spill, which occurred near the town of Saxon and at 1.3 million gallons of natural gas liquids was the largest in the company’s history, was caused when an unoccupied truck rolled over a valve while crews were doing construction work. The company is in the process of rerouting Line 5 off the Bad River tribe’s reservation — a controversial project which has triggered numerous challenges to the DNR and federal permits. 

Since the spill, environmental activists, tribal members, candidates for office and elected officials in both Wisconsin and Michigan have renewed their calls for the pipeline to be shut down. 

After the spill, Enbridge began working to bypass the damaged valve so the pipeline could again be used to transport Canadian oil and gas. On Wednesday, the DNR issued a notice of noncompliance to the company, noting that Enbridge was constructing the bypass without the proper permits from the DNR. 

In the notice, and in an accompanying letter from DNR Secretary Karen Hyun, the agency said that it had told the company on three separate occasions it could not conduct the bypass work without approval from the state, and possibly from both the county and federal governments. 

The notice states that the bypass construction involves matting placed in nearby wetlands and close to Spoon Creek, which is considered a navigable waterway regulated by state law. 

In her letter, Hyun said she was “deeply concerned and incredibly frustrated” by Enbridge’s actions, especially the potentially harmful effects caused by the “significant discharge” of pollutants known as volatile organic compounds — which can be harmful to people’s health and the local environment. 

“Enbridge has continued to add to the growing list of environmental concerns and violations, demonstrating disregard for the environment, human health, and the statutory authority of the department,” she wrote. “Regarding the Line 5 reroute construction, Enbridge has caused additional discharges to the environment since my earlier letter, which have caused continued frustration and profound unease for the department and the people of Wisconsin. Additionally, at the location of the Line 5 Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) spill on August 25, Enbridge has made the decision to start unpermitted construction of a bypass, despite the extensive efforts of the DNR to educate Enbridge on the necessary permits and approvals for this bypass construction and a commitment to review submitted materials in a timely matter. Based on this pattern of noncompliance demonstrated by Enbridge, my concern over the environmental impacts of Enbridge’s activities over the past weeks has only heightened.”

In a statement, Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said the company is working “around the clock” to clean up the spill site and return the pipeline to service. 

“Enbridge continues working towards both priorities related to the third-party line strike near Saxon, Wis. — the safe control and remediation of the incident site and completing a temporary bypass to allow the pipeline to return to service, which will help resolve energy supply disruptions,” she said. “Around the clock work on both priorities is being done in parallel. Line 5 is critical infrastructure delivering energy to millions of people in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. We continue to work with the Wisconsin DNR on relevant permitting and separately on environmental conditions at the incident site.”

Rob Lee, an attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates who has worked on the challenges to Enbridge’s Line 5 permits, said that the company doesn’t get to decide that restoring the pipeline is more important than following state law. 

“Enbridge knew it needed authorization before it started this work. The DNR told the company that repeatedly. Enbridge went ahead anyway. That shows extraordinary disregard for Wisconsin’s environmental laws and for the state agency charged with enforcing them,” Lee said. ““Enbridge cannot simply decide that getting Line 5 back in service is more important than following Wisconsin law. They’ve been out there moving earth, crossing waterways and disturbing wetlands without permits. They need to stop treating environmental requirements as obstacles to work around and start following the law. If they don’t, DNR should revoke the permits for the reroute.”

A western Wisconsin factory dairy farm will have to restart its effort to obtain a permit after an administrative law judge found this week that the Department of Natural Resource’s initial approval failed to do enough to protect local groundwater. 

The Ridge Breeze Dairy in Pierce County has applied to expand from a 1,700 cow farm to 6,500 cows. The expansion is expected to generate 78 million gallons of manure per year. Since proposing the expansion, residents in the region have protested against the effects that operating the largest factory farm in western Wisconsin will have on the local water. 

Residents worked to oppose the DNR’s permitting decision along each step and previously raised concerns that the dairy had named properties as sites for planned manure spreading although those property owners were never contacted. 

Last year, the DNR granted a modified permit for the dairy to expand. Pierce County residents and a western Wisconsin-based advocacy group petitioned for a contested case hearing against the DNR decision. That hearing was held in Eau Claire in March.

In a decision issued Monday, Administrative Law Judge Angela Chaput Foy stated that the permit doesn’t do enough to ensure Ridge Breeze’s operations protect the groundwater. 

Communities across western Wisconsin have struggled with nitrate contamination in their groundwater, the source of drinking water for much of rural Wisconsin. Nitrate contamination has been linked to blue-baby syndrome, thyroid disease and colon cancer. 

The driftless region of western Wisconsin is especially vulnerable to groundwater contamination because parts of the bedrock are susceptible to sinkholes and fracturing. 

Residents in the area have pointed to the vulnerability of streams near the Ridge Breeze site and previous manure spills on farms operated by Ridge Breeze’s owner, Breeze Dairy Group. 

“The permit conditions set Ridge Breeze up for anticipated compliance, they also command compliance, but the permit lacks a mechanism to verify compliance,” Foy wrote. “By omitting a mechanism to verify actual compliance, the (DNR) has issued a mandate while simultaneously denying itself the tools or data necessary to know whether that mandate is broken.”

Foy’s order sends the permit back to the DNR, which will now have to include additional conditions in the permit to detect if the state’s groundwater standards are being violated. This could include installing monitoring wells, a step that some farmers and agricultural industry advocates say is too costly. 

“Protecting groundwater requires more than simply telling Ridge Breeze to comply with the law,” said Adam Voskuil, senior staff attorney at Midwest Environmental Advocates. “The DNR must have a way to determine whether those requirements are actually being followed and whether groundwater is being protected. This ruling makes clear that paper promises are not enough.”

Residents who spent years fighting the farm’s expansion celebrated the decision.

“This victory started when a handful of neighbors sat down together in the a garage down the road from Ridge Breeze and decided that we wouldn’t let our health, water, or our farming heritage be treated as an afterthought,” said Ty Fisher, a Pierce County farmer and member of Grassroots Organizing Western Wisconsin. “For more than three years, locals here have organized, testified, and stood together. This decision proves that when we’re organized we can take on corporate ag special interests and win.”

Gregg Wolf, the CEO of Breeze Dairy Group, told Wisconsin Public Radio that the farm has already completed construction on the new buildings for the expansion and currently houses about 6,000 cows. He said the decision will simply require the farm to do more to reassure neighbors that the state’s rules are being followed. 

“Ridge Breeze has always been committed to protecting the environment and all the resources, including groundwater, and doing things properly, and having enough acres to manage nutrients properly,” Wolf said. “This is just another avenue that is going to be added to the permit to reassure the community that’s being achieved.”

Danny Akenson, an organizer with GROWW, said that successfully overturning a DNR permit decision is a sign that residents opposed to the influence of factory farms over state policy can secure wins. 

“This isn’t the end of our fight, but it is proof that our organizing works,” Akenson said. “We’re going to celebrate what Pierce County residents won, and then we’re going to carry that people power to Madison to win the common sense accountability we need over corporate factory farms like these. Communities in Wisconsin shouldn’t have to fight for protections one factory farm and one permit at a time.”

A section of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline leaked natural gas liquid on Tuesday morning near the town of Saxon. Both the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Enbridge have confirmed the leak with Wisconsin Examiner, drone video of which is circulating social media showing plumes of smoke or mist-like vapor pouring out and covering an area with parked trucks and construction equipment. 

The leak was caused when a truck — which Enbridge said was unoccupied — rolled over an open excavation site for a Line 5 valve project, over a natural gas transmission line. The leak occurred in rural Iron County. This section of Line 5 was not carrying crude oil. 

Both Enbridge and the DNR said in email statements that no one was injured, though Enbridge stated that nearby rural homes were evacuated as a precaution. The DNR said that the valve project was struck around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, and that Enbridge reported the accident to the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s National Response Center at 11:02 a.m. and the DNR spills hotline at 11:15 a.m.. 

The fire department and Stantec are on site monitoring the air. The line was shut down to prevent further leaks, and the DNR stated work is underway to calculate exactly how much natural gas was released. In a social media post, Iron County Sheriff Paul Samardich said that Sitan Road is closed until further notice, and that a temporary no-fly zone zone has been established in the area. There is also an associated temporary power outage, the sheriff wrote, adding  that local residents should “follow instructions from emergency personnel.”

Enbridge Line 5 has been at the center of controversy for years. Environmental advocates and tribal communities argue that the decades-old Canadian pipeline perpetuates an over-reliance on fossil fuels in a time when communities need to move towards clean and renewable energy sources. A federal judge ruled that Enbridge was trespassing on the sovereign land of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in 2013, prompting a plan to reroute the pipeline around the reservation, which has also been contested. 

The Band and its allies say that the pipeline needs to be shut down as the possibility of oil or gas leaks threaten sensitive ecosystems as well as the Bad River watershed which the tribe and other communities rely on. Supporters of Line 5 and Enbridge say that the company helps maintain American energy supplies and jobs.

Jadine Sonoda, campaign coordinator for Sierra Club of Wisconsin, said that the most recent gas leak is an example of the pipeline’s issues. “This is yet another disaster by Enbridge and their Line 5 pipeline,” Sonoda said Tuesday in an emailed statement. “Just last week, Enbridge argued in court that our concerns about the damage of the construction of the Line 5 reroute, on the wetlands, waters, and nearby communities were unwarranted. They argued that the project is complicated, but they’ve got it under control — yet days later, people are being evacuated from their homes due to poisonous natural gas in the air.” 

Sonoda asked, “How many more disasters will it take for Wisconsin leaders to put a stop to this? How many many people will be harmed before our state regulators finally hold this massive corporate polluter accountable? We want to thank the monitors who alerted people to this right away, and the first responders who are helping people to safety.”

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Most of the 29 people killed in ATV/UTV crashes so far this year had never completed an off-highway vehicle safety course, according to the latest data from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

And DNR officials say that 15 of those who died were over the age of 60 — meaning they were among those who are not required to take safety courses under state law.

DNR data shows most of the people killed in off-highway vehicle incidents were not wearing seat belts or helmets, and frequently alcohol was a factor in the crashes. Those are all aspects the state’s safety courses try to explain to riders.

Jacob Holsclaw, the DNR’s off-highway vehicle administrator, said that’s a notable trend and one the state is starting to look at.

“Many of the crashes could be prevented simply by adopting a safety code of conduct,” Holsclaw said. The DNR offers tips and class information on its ATV/UTV page. 

The DNR recommends all operators to take a safety class, no matter their age.

The data for 2026 shows most people killed in ATV/UTV incidents were born before Jan. 1, 1988.

“What we’re seeing is a majority of the folks involved in these fatal or serious injury crashes were born before that date,” Holsclaw said. “So the class would have been optional.”

Under the law, riders over 38 are not required to take courses.

Only five people killed in OHV incidents were younger than 38, according to state data.

Three UTV/ATV operators were confirmed by state officials to be safety-certified at the time of the crash, according to DNR’s data for 2026. 

There are still five cases with unclear safety certification, but the DNR said their status is pending at this time.

Randy Harden, the president of the Wisconsin ATV/UTV Association, said his group has been working with the DNR to improve safety in the state’s riding population.

He says it’s often difficult to get older Wisconsinites to take protective gear seriously.

“That’s our challenge,” he said. “How do we keep communicating effectively to get the message over?”

Only three women died in UTV/ATV incidents this year. Two were over 65; the youngest was 40. All three women died on public roadways in Wisconsin.

Most of the fatalities were men, with a total of 25. The oldest was 83. One child died at 10 years old. 

And while 29 deaths this year were directly tied to crashes that happened this year, DNR officials said an additional OHV-connected fatality occured when a person died this year from injuries in a crash that occurred years ago, Holsclaw said. The medical examiner listed that death as a result of an ATV crash.

The top three kinds of fatal crashes were: rollovers, with 15 crashes; motor vehicle collisions with six; and people being ejected from the vehicle in four crashes, according to DNR data.

Harden says many riders mislead themselves into thinking they’re safe enough to ride in a machine without a helmet.

In reality, Harden says the vehicle doesn’t have air bags and riders have a real risk of being thrown out of the vehicle in a crash. 

“Even if you have your seat belt on, then your noggin is taking a beating in that roll cage,” he said. 

It’s not clear how many fatalities reflected in 2026 crash report data had alcohol in their system — but Holsclaw said it’s common in many OHV crashes.

As of Aug. 14, the DNR webpage for crash reports shows, out of 29 fatalities, 21 incidents where the BAC level is listed as “Pending.”

“It can take months for us to get alcohol or drug results back, and so that’s why we leave those open until we get that confirmation,” he said. 

But, Holsclaw said in a typical year, the department finds alcohol is a factor in between 40% and 50% of fatal crashes.

“That’s a pretty big percentage,” he said.

Five fatal crashes were confirmed to have involved alcohol, according to the DNR data. 

For comparison, Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources says that state has had only seven fatal crashes so far this year. In 2025, MDNR recorded 22.

This story was originally published by WPR.

More than half of people killed this year in Wisconsin off-road vehicle crashes were over 60 is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are asking the Legislature’s Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Finance to release $10 million the state received earlier this summer as part of a lawsuit settlement with Tyco Fire Products over PFAS contamination in the Marinette area. 

In June, Tyco and the state reached the settlement agreement, marking one of the first efforts in the state to hold a polluter responsible for PFAS pollution. The Marinette area’s water has been affected by PFAS contamination for years. 

Under state law, money received by the state in lawsuit settlements is under the control of JFC — even though the settlement requires that the money be spent by the DNR for PFAS remediation. 

On Thursday, Evers and DNR Secretary Karen Hyun urged the committee to release the funds quickly so the money can get out to residents. Evers said that after the DNR held listening sessions with community members, the settlement funds would be directed to help people with private wells test for PFAS and replace contaminated wells. 

“Every Wisconsinite deserves to have clean, safe water to drink, and for the past seven-plus years, my administration and I have been working to fight these forever chemicals that are affecting the health and well-being of kids, families, farmers, livestock, crops, and communities all over Wisconsin,” Evers said in a statement. “I’m proud of our work to create the PFAS Trust Fund, which is available to help ensure the state can support Wisconsinites in getting contaminants like PFAS out of their water for good.”

The DNR collaborated with local leaders and held listening sessions to develop the plan for spending the settlement money “to ensure these funds are put to good use and address the urgent needs of the impacted communities,” Evers said.

“I urge lawmakers to act quickly and approve our request by releasing these funds as quickly as possible so we can continue this fight and ensure Wisconsinites have clean drinking water,” he added.

The money has been deposited in the state’s PFAS trust fund, which was created as part of the 2023-25 budget to help the state remediate PFAS pollution. Earlier this year, Evers signed into law a bill that creates a number of programs aimed at getting that money out the door.

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Wildfires in northern Minnesota and Canada have caused some of the worst air quality on record for Wisconsin. The entire state remains under an Air Quality Advisory for fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke until noon on Friday, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, most of the state’s air quality was in the “very unhealthy” or “hazardous” Air Quality category. That means that everyone, not just sensitive groups, should avoid outdoor activities, the DNR said.

In areas near Superior, the Air Quality Index rose above 800, while parts of eastern Wisconsin including Milwaukee and Kenosha measured above 650. National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Sheppard told Wisconsin Watch these levels are some of the worst on record. 

“What we’ve heard from some of our partners is that the Air Quality Index values that we’re seeing are definitely either never before seen or up there,” Sheppard said. “I’ve been working here for three years, and I’ve seen nothing anywhere near that high.” 

Index values in Wisconsin have exceeded the records set by wildfires in June 2023, DNR spokesperson Craig Czarnecki said in an email, noting that the figures “will still need to be quality assured.” At that time, levels peaked at 273, which means concentrations in Superior and the Milwaukee area have more than doubled. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends setting up a portable air cleaner or filter in a room that can be closed off from outside air and setting your air conditioner  to recirculate mode if possible or close the outdoor intake damper. 

Fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, is a main pollutant released from wildfire smoke that can enter the bloodstream. Dr. Joan Schiller, a member of Healthy Climate Wisconsin and retired medical oncologist, told WPR this can exacerbate lung conditions.

“I don’t think people realize how far away you can be from the fire itself and still have health problems,” Schiller said. “These health problems typically manifest themselves as respiratory problems, such as exacerbation of COPD or asthma or emphysema.” 

How can I check the air quality in my area?

The Environmental Protection Agency monitors the air around the country and compiles an air quality index, or AQI.

Here’s what to know about the index and how to keep tabs on your area, especially in U.S. regions dealing with smoke from Canadian wildfires.

What does the air quality index measure? 

The index rates how clean or polluted the air is each day. The EPA uses this measure to keep tabs on five kinds of air pollutants. The main concern from the wildfire smoke is fine particle pollution. These particles are tiny enough to get deep into the lungs. They can cause short-term problems like coughing and itchy eyes and, in the long run, can affect the lungs and heart.

What do the numbers and colors mean? 

The index categories typically only run from zero to 500 – although levels have reached well above 500 in multiple parts of the state. The higher the number, the worse the air quality. That range is broken down into six color-coded categories. Green or yellow — in the zero to 100 range — the air is pretty clear. Once it gets up to orange, the air quality could be a concern for sensitive groups like children, older adults or those with health conditions.

In the red and purple zones, the air quality is considered unhealthy for everyone.

And if the index gets to maroon — at 301 or above — pollution levels are hazardous.

At these high levels, take precautions to avoid breathing in the dangerous air. That can mean reducing your outdoor activities, running air purifiers inside and wearing a well-fitting mask like an N95 when you’re outside.

What’s the air quality right now? 

Check AirNow.gov, which updates every hour. The site shows a real-time map of the air quality across the country and also includes a forecast for the day ahead. The map pulls in measurements from a network of air monitoring stations across the country. States and cities may also offer more local guidance.

How long will smoke last in Wisconsin? 

According to Sheppard and the National Weather Service (NWS), a southerly wind on Friday means smoke is anticipated to retreat from west to east  – likely bringing an end to the advisory for much of the state. 

“With those southwest winds, the air is going to get kind of clearer and healthier in a southwest to northeast manner,” Sheppard said. “Areas further north and east in Wisconsin are going to be most likely to hang on to that smoke.” 

Areas along Lake Superior may also need to have the advisory extended, NWS said. But Sheppard said winds could bring back a second wave of smoke to the rest of the state as soon as Saturday. 

“The weather models tentatively are telling us that the second batch of smoke could be as strong, or perhaps even worse,” he said. 

The Associated Press contributed reporting, as did Hongyu Liu of Wisconsin Watch.

Wildfire smoke brings hazardous air quality in Wisconsin. Here’s how to stay safe is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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In April, a woman in Green Lake County was driving three passengers on a UTV when she took a curve too quickly. The vehicle rolled and hit a tree head-on. One passenger died at the scene and a second just days later. The 26-year-old driver’s blood alcohol concentration was three times the legal limit, according to the police report.

So far this year, 18 people have died in fatal crashes on off-road vehicles like ATVs and UTVs statewide, according to data reported by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The latest reported fatality was June 13, when a 71-year-old ATV driver collided with a UTV while both vehicles were cresting a hill. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Alcohol was involved in at least four of the deaths reported so far in 2026. Blood alcohol results are still pending in 11 of those fatalities.

Riding off-road vehicles is becoming an increasingly popular pastime in Wisconsin. The total number of registrations for these vehicles has increased by about 20% since 2020, according to the state DNR.

Crashes and fatalities are also on the rise. Drugs and alcohol are involved in about half of those crashes, said Jacob Holsclaw, an off-highway vehicle administrator for the DNR.

“In a lot of those cases, if the folks had not been drinking and driving, they may even still be alive today,” he said. “I think that’s an important thing to remember.”

Forty-two people died in a crash on an ATV or UTV last year, a 90% increase since 2015, according to DNR data. There were 300 total crashes reported in 2025, about a 45% increase from 10 years ago. A rise in the number of UTV crashes significantly contributed to that increase. About 30% of the fatalities in 2025 involved alcohol or THC, and toxicology results are pending for a handful of those fatalities.

In recent years, municipalities have opened more roads to ATVs and UTVs across the state. All-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, often seat just one passenger and are steered by handlebars like a motorcycle. Utility-terrain vehicles, or UTVs, allow the passenger and driver to sit side-by-side, and drivers control the vehicle with a steering wheel. UTVs are generally larger and often include a partially enclosed cabin that can seat four.

Drivers of both vehicles can now operate them across more than 65,000 miles of roadway. Unlike snowmobiles, ATVs and UTVs aren’t as weather-dependent and can be used all year, especially during mild winters. In some communities, it’s normal for people to use their recreational vehicles for everyday errands. Holsclaw said the pandemic also contributed to the upward trend in their use.

With more people using off-road vehicles, more people will get hurt, he said. The tires aren’t designed for pavement, and the vehicles handle differently than cars, another reason “it’s really important that folks are driving sober,” Holsclaw said. Riders tipped or rolled their machines in more than half of the fatal crashes last year.

Driving an ATV or UTV while drunk and on property open to the public is illegal in Wisconsin. Even if drivers don’t exceed the 0.08 limit, they can be stopped, cited and arrested if law enforcement believes they are impaired, Holsclaw said. It’s about coordination and reaction time, he said. But the penalties are lighter than for cars.

Drivers convicted of a first offense for operating an off-road vehicle while intoxicated – a civil forfeiture and not a crime – would pay a $450 fine, Holsclaw said.

“It is a fair amount less than the motor vehicle world,” Holsclaw said. “It is unfortunate that the fines are lower because it almost sends the message that an OWI is not as important.”

A first offense for an OWI in a motor vehicle comes with about a $700 bill and a license revocation.

But regulating alcohol use in the recreational vehicle world is different, Holsclaw said. Some people don’t want to be told what to do. And in Wisconsin, drinking is a part of the culture. 

“That’s all well and good as long as you’re not operating a vehicle,” Holsclaw said.

The state DNR’s power to tighten gaps in law is limited.

Its most recent batch of regulations, which went into effect June 1, closed a loophole by requiring both passengers and operators in UTVs to wear seat belts. Taken literally, state law had only required passengers to wear them. Even still, the DNR can’t change the fact that an OWI from an ATV or UTV doesn’t affect your driver’s license, Holsclaw said. If it did, maybe that would keep people from driving drunk.

More substantive change “comes down to the state representatives,” Holsclaw said. “They’re the ones that have to make that decision.”

Waiting for ‘a new day in Madison’

Lawmakers in Madison have tried and failed to toughen state law that regulates the overlap between alcohol use and recreational vehicles. Both Democratic and Republican legislators say the Tavern League, the state’s influential beer lobby, has stymied serious progress.

When it comes to drinking and driving cars and ATVs, “Wisconsin has among the worst laws in the country,” said state Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee. 

Larson – who said he lost a good friend in a head-on collision with a repeat drunk driver when he was in high school – believes special interests like the Tavern League have helped keep things the way they are. 

The league did not respond to requests for comment.

At the moment, if a person gets a first OWI on an ATV and soon after gets a first OWI while driving a snowmobile, the courts treat them both as first offenses.

“They don’t talk to each other,” Holsclaw said.

OWIs for automobiles also accumulate separately.

In 2019, a bipartisan band of legislators tried to change how this works. If they had succeeded, the person in the earlier scenario would instead have a first- and second-offense OWI, the latter of which is a misdemeanor. The bill would also have restricted people from operating recreational vehicles like snowmobiles, boats or UTVs if their driver’s license was currently suspended because of a normal OWI.

But the bill failed. When lawmakers resurrected the attempt in 2021, it died again.

The 2021 bill passed seamlessly out of its committee in the state Senate, Larson said, but then stalled for nine months and eventually died.

“That’s unfortunately the power of some special interests who don’t want to change the law,” Larson said, “but I think that they are coming out of power.”

The senator said he believes the influence of organizations like the Tavern League will fade in parallel with the Republican majority, which must now face competitive political maps it didn’t draw for the first time in nearly two decades. 

The powerful lobbying organization that advocates for bar owners did not register in opposition to the 2021 bill, according to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission website. Instead, Larson said the organization often works through long-established expectations that lawmakers won’t advance bills related to drunk driving.

“There’s just an agreement that they know they don’t have to lift a finger or do anything, but the Republicans are beholden to that interest group,” Larson said.

But not all Republicans. State Sen. André Jacque, a Republican from the Green Bay area who is retiring at the end of the year, also worked on the 2021 bill and similarly criticizes how the Tavern League operates. He said it exercised its “silent veto” to put the 2021 bill to sleep.

“I would argue that in some cases there are groups that fail to indicate the actions that they have taken to stop legislation,” Jacque said, referencing how the state requires lobbyists to register with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission and report their activity.

The fight isn’t over, though. Under the right circumstances, Jacque said, the bill could return. He said law enforcement wants tougher laws. Other states already have them.

In Minnesota, a first offense for driving an off-road vehicle while impaired is a crime that could result in up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail. In Wisconsin, the same offense results in a fine but no jail time. Unlike in Minnesota, your driver’s license won’t be affected if you get busted for driving an ATV or UTV while drunk in Wisconsin.

More recently, Wisconsin lawmakers tried to ban having open containers of alcohol in or on off-road vehicles. No groups registered in opposition to the bipartisan bill, but it failed in April 2024. 

That bill would have been relevant in the fatal crash in Green Lake County where law enforcement found empty containers of alcohol strewn about the crash site.

Larson said people want common-sense drunk driving laws in Wisconsin.

“It’s going to be a new day in Madison,” Larson said.

The Badger Project is an independent, reader-supported news nonprofit in Wisconsin.

This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

With ATV crashes up in Wisconsin, some legislators want to strengthen OWI laws. The Tavern League stands in the way. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Click here to read highlights from the story

• Wisconsin has fewer remaining lead water pipelines than previous estimates, suggesting officials may be able to eliminate them faster and at lower cost than expected.
• New inventory requirements have given regulators and utilities their clearest picture yet of where lead pipes remain and where more investigation is needed.
• Federal regulators now require water systems to replace all lead service lines by the end of 2037 because no level of lead exposure is considered safe, especially for children.
• More than 181,000 Wisconsin service lines (12% statewide) are still classified as unknown because many communities lack complete records and must verify pipe materials through inspections and outreach.
• Federal infrastructure funding has provided major support for lead line replacement projects across Wisconsin, but officials expect available funding to decrease in the coming years.

Wisconsin may be closer than previously thought to eliminating lead water pipes. About 164,000 municipal and community lead water service lines still need replacement with safer materials, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis of water system data reported in April. That’s roughly one of every 10 municipal and community water lines statewide. 

The estimate includes confirmed lead lines — roughly 146,000 across 137 municipal and community water systems — and an estimated share of service lines with unknown materials that are statistically likely to contain lead, based on EPA methodology.

Some data gaps remain, including some water systems that did not file a report on time.

Still, the total is far below previous government estimates as more complete inventories more clearly show where lead pipes remain, part of a nationwide effort to reduce exposure to the toxic metal linked to serious health risks.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated in 2025 — before many water systems completed or updated their inventories — that nearly 180,000 water lines in Wisconsin were made of lead, a sharp drop from its 2023 estimate of over 256,000.

“We may be able to remove all (lead service lines) faster, fully, and forever – sooner and at a lower price tag than expected,” Erica Galante-Johnson, senior lead service line replacement policy analyst at Environmental Policy Innovation Center, wrote in a report comparing the lead service line estimate before and after new inventory data became available. 

Why replace lead service lines?

Once a popular material for water service lines, lead was banned by regulators for such purposes in Wisconsin and nationwide beginning in the 1980s due to concerns about potential lead exposure. 

“There is no safe level of exposure to lead,” the EPA’s website says. 

Children are especially vulnerable to lead, since even low levels of exposure can lead to behavioral and learning problems. High levels of lead in blood can cause seizures, coma or death. Adults exposed to lead are more susceptible to cardiovascular and kidney problems.

Water systems limit risk by treating pipes with chemicals that reduce corrosion, but failures such as Flint, Michigan’s crisis a decade ago show how those safeguards can break down, exposing residents to lead. 

That’s why federal regulators now require aggressive replacement timelines. 

Municipal and community water systems must replace all lead or galvanized pipes before the end of 2037. Some Wisconsin cities, like Madison and Stoughton, have already replaced all lead pipes. Many others, including Eau Claire, Milwaukee and Wausau, have projects underway to replace them at no or low cost to homeowners.

At least 29 municipalities in Wisconsin have received more than $159 million through 2025 to replace lead service lines through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by then-President Joe Biden.

The EPA in May announced an additional $94.3 million Wisconsin allocation under the 2021 law. 

Biden’s EPA revised its Lead and Copper Rule, tightening monitoring requirements and establishing  timelines for replacing lead pipes. 

The first step: requiring water systems to document what’s underground.

More complete information helps identify where lead lines are concentrated, said Ann Hirekatur, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ lead and copper section manager.

The inventories are more than a bureaucratic exercise. Federal rules now tie them directly to replacement requirements.

Wisconsin water systems previously needed only to report estimates of their lead service lines to the state Public Service Commission.

Biden’s EPA changed that. Water systems were required to submit an initial inventory by October 2024, listing the best available information about each water line. That gave DNR officials line-by-line records for the first time, Hirekatur said.

By Nov. 1, 2027, water systems must improve those records by trying to identify service lines of currently unknown material and documenting connector materials. After that deadline, any service lines with an unknown material will be treated as lead, and water systems must start replacing at least 10% of lead lines under their control each year. 

The new regulations require digging through historical documents — or even digging up pipelines one by one — to confirm the material and location. 

The more rigorous process revealed more lead service lines in some communities than previously thought. That includes Whitefish Bay, which documented more than 56% of service lines as lead during the first draft of its inventory.

Locating pipelines can be challenging

Despite the new inventories, regulators still have yet to identify the materials in more than 181,000 Wisconsin service lines, or 12% of all statewide.

As of April, 312 of 610 Wisconsin municipal water systems identified materials in every service line. About 60% of systems recorded 5% or fewer pipelines as unknown material. 

Meanwhile, 102 municipal water systems reported more than half of their lines as unknown, with 12 yet to submit inventories. 

“Some systems kept good records, and some systems don’t have any records at all,” Hirekatur said.

Water system managers must show their work in documenting the makeup of service lines. 

The best evidence is a “tap card” that describes the pipe’s primary features and installation history.

But many communities never preserved those records because they were not required to do so.

The city of Lancaster illustrates that challenge. Water system officials started looking for lead pipes in the 1990s, and they initially found only two and about 50 others whose material was unknown. But the DNR initially marked more than 1,700 out of the city’s 1,845 lines as unknown because the verification documentation fell short of standards.

The utility didn’t save old paper inspection records, said John Hauth and Jamie McCartney, the retiring and incoming directors of public works, respectively.

Calling DNR representatives “very helpful,” Hauth said his inventory is now getting into “pretty good shape.” 

“We send it to them, they will highlight areas and send it back and say, ‘OK, well, you know you need to explain this better, or you need to match this up,’” Hauth said.

Gathering evidence

At the DNR’s suggestion, Hauth and McCartney used construction records to rule out neighborhoods built after lead was banned from new pipeline construction and found water meter replacement records to fill in some blanks.  

The managers submitted a revised draft, still under DNR review, that labeled fewer than 400 service lines as unknown. The city plans to verify the remaining resident-owned lines through door-to-door visits and use hydro-excavation equipment to check city-owned lines.

“We’ve only got the few that we know of,” Hauth said. “I think it’s gonna be manageable.” 

Josh Hyndman, Mount Horeb’s former water system manager, also has experience with thin documentation. The village started replacing lead pipes in 2011 and compiled its inventory as early as 2021 to apply for a DNR lead line replacement grant.

“We went down into our basement and started pulling out all the old records,” Hyndman said. “ I found a construction date that was from January of ’78, and it spelled out that everything would be three-quarter-inch copper for all businesses.”

That helped Hyndman determine that all service lines installed after 1978 were copper, reducing the number his team had to inspect or excavate.

In 2024, Hyndman left Mount Horeb for a job in Whitewater. Mount Horeb now has just one lead service line remaining, beneath a vacant lot. He said the inventory process was much easier in Whitewater because the city maintains comprehensive records for each line. As of April, Whitewater had 16 lead service lines and plans to replace all but one serving an abandoned water tower by the end of 2027.

Most unknown service lines are located on the private side of the water system, Cathy Wunderlich said. She is project manager and principal technologist with the engineering firm Jacobs, which the DNR contracted through 2028 to help local water systems finish their inventories. The service is free, with the costs covered by a federal grant.

Lead and copper are rarely used for water lines over two inches in diameter, so they’re more commonly used in private-side pipes instead of the public side, Wunderlich explained. 

Although municipal water systems do not own the private side of service lines, they must document them. That requires permission and access from property owners. 

A more cost-effective approach encourages residents to submit evidence, said Shawn Kerachsky, CEO of Community Infrastructure Partners, which used federal grants to contract with Wausau and Racine to inventory and replace the lead lines.

“This is not an engineering and construction problem,” Kerachsky said. “It’s a public health issue that happens to be solved through very simple engineering and construction, but world-class communication outreach and logistical planning.”

His company promoted the “Equiflow” campaign when helping Wausau complete its inventory — partnering with local organizations to encourage residents to identify their water lines by uploading photos or allowing technicians to inspect them. The approach helped Wausau reduce its share of unknown service lines to about 30%. 

The DNR also offers grants to help water systems educate residents about inventory and replacement projects.

What’s next?

Water systems will ultimately use the data to apply for federal grants and loans to fund lead service line replacements. 

“We encourage water systems to replace them as soon as possible, because it’s in the best interest of public health,” Hirekatur said. “Right now, there’s more money available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, and once that gets used up, there’ll be a lot less funding available.”

The DNR will announce which projects it will select for federal pipeline replacement funds by year’s end. The program offers loans with a 0.25% interest rate, far below market rates, and principal forgiveness. The department expects to have some funding available in 2028, but much less than previous years.

Wisconsin’s lead pipe count is falling. But the search isn’t over. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Riders of all-terrain vehicles in Wisconsin have some new requirements after new rules took effect at the start of this month.

Changed rules include include prohibitions against towing objects with people onboard, restrictions on window tinting — and a seat belt requirement.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said under the new law “ALL occupants of a UTV including the driver and passengers have to wear a seat belt.”

These regulations were approved by a unanimous vote of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board, which updated the administrative codes.

Wisconsin has seen a surge in ATV and UTV activity in the past few years and an accompanying increase in fatal crashes.

As of January, the DNR reported more than 528,000 registrations for the trail-ready vehicles. The Wisconsin ATV/UTV Association says it has more than 40,000 members and about 130 local chapters across the state.

Randy Harden, the group’s president, said the association was included in talks with lawmakers about the regulation updates. The old ATV/UTV regulations were inconsistent, and behavior seen on trails was also part of the reason for the updated regulations.

A previous version of the law required seat belts, and Harden says its intention was always for it to apply to everyone in a vehicle. But when a rider in southwest Wisconsin challenged a ticket in court, it revealed an inconsistency in the way the policy was worded.

“The judge looked at the wording that was drafted, and it said all passengers must wear a seat belt, (but) didn’t say the driver,” Harden said. “This (new rule) corrects that and says all passengers and the driver must wear a seat belt.”

Last year, there were at least 300 ATV or UTV crashes reported to the DNR, resulting in 277 reported injuries.

“The majority of our serious injury and fatal crashes occur because of occupants choosing to not wear a seat belt or helmet,” said Lt. Jacob Holsclaw, DNR off-highway vehicle administrator.

In 2025 alone, the DNR reported a total of 41 deaths. In 32 of those fatal crashes, the people involved were not wearing seat belts. Only four of those deaths were in vehicles other than a UTV, DNR data shows.

It was the second-deadliest year for Wisconsin UTVs and ATVs on record.

While the new seat belt requirement is clear, advocates are realistic about its use.

“Will everybody do it? Absolutely not,” Harden said. “Does everybody wear their seat belts in the car? No, but that doesn’t mean you stop trying, and that’s really what this effort is.”

The DNR says enforcement will be handled through normal patrols by conservation wardens, sheriff’s offices and police in some areas.

“Officers will often use education and even citations if operators are found in violation of the new laws,” the DNR said in an email with WPR.

 DNR data for 2024 shows 115 citations for operators not wearing seat belts.

Towing, tinting rules among other requirements

Under the new restrictions, it is now illegal for a UTV/ATV to tow people on a roadway or trail. The restriction has exceptions for private lands and on ice while going under 10 miles per hour, the DNR says.

“It excludes if your machine breaks down,” Harden said. “That’s a common sense exclusion,” he said.

Other changes include making it mandatory for riders younger than 18 to have a DOT-approved helmet and requiring eye protection if the machine does not have a windshield. The new law also limits window tinting.

The DNR says there are now fines for causing intentional damage to an ATV/UTV, which could be up to three times as much as the cost to repair it.

This story was originally published by WPR.

Riding an ATV/UTV in Wisconsin? Buckle up, with updated laws is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.