The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a notice of violation to the Enbridge Energy Company for incidents in Iron and Ashland counties, where the company is working on a controversial reroute of its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline. 

The notice includes violations of permit conditions of the reroute construction project, and violations of state environmental laws for the unpermitted construction of a bypass around the Saxon Line 5 spill site. It covers laws involving state water quality, wetlands, navigable waterways, air quality, storm water and endangered resources protection.

The violations are alleged to have occurred from March 30 through Sept. 21 of this year. In August, a section of the pipeline leaked natural gas liquid near the town of Saxon, with drone video of the leak showing plumes of smokey vapor pouring out of an area where trucks and equipment were parked. Enbridge said that the leak occurred when an unoccupied truck rolled over an open excavation site near a valve project. Environmental groups fear that the leak could have been the largest of its kind in Wisconsin history.

 

 

The violation notice sets an enforcement conference, which is a standard step where the DNR and Enbridge will discuss the alleged violations. After the conference, the DNR can take further enforcement action such as issuing citations, referring the case to the Wisconsin Department of Justice for prosecution to seek forfeitures, or other court-related actions. 

A DNR press release notes that the notice of violation is separate from Enbridge’s responsibility under the spills law to respond to hazardous substances which may have been released during the August leak.

“These allegations are numerous and serious,” said Clean Wisconsin Attorney Evan Feinauer in a statement. “The DNR must now use the full force of its enforcement authority to hold Enbridge accountable and secure relief that addresses the significant harm to our environment Enbridge has caused.”

This article was updated with comment from Clean Wisconsin.

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Enbridge said an early morning fire destroyed a drill rig and support equipment on a $1 billion project to reroute its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin.

In a statement, Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner called the fire that damaged a horizontal directional drill rig and related equipment an act of vandalism. She said there was also graffiti found at the site. No details were provided on where the fire took place, but Kellner said no injuries were reported.

Iron County Sheriff Paul Samardich confirmed the blaze occurred in Ashland County. The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for additional details on the fire.

The incident follows two other fires targeting Enbridge that occurred last month, including a blaze in Ashland County that destroyed a drill rig on the Line 5 reroute.

“This is the second major vandalism involving construction equipment on the project,” Kellner said. “These incidents put the local community, landowners, first responders and our workers at risk and result in environmental impacts.”

The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, are investigating the cause of the two previous fires that occurred in the town of Gingles and the city of Superior. Representatives of the FBI and ATF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kellner said Enbridge supports people’s rights to express their views “legally and peacefully.”

“Acts that damage property and put people or the environment at risk are neither legal nor peaceful,” Kellner said. “We take these incidents very seriously and will cooperate fully with authorities as they investigate and seek to hold those responsible accountable.”

Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline carries up to 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids daily from Superior to Sarnia, Ontario, serving 10 refineries and propane facilities in the Great Lakes region.

The fires come after an Aug. 25 gas leak on Line 5 in the town of Saxon released more than 1.3 million gallons of natural gas liquids into the atmosphere. Preliminary findings suggest a subcontractor’s truck was in neutral when it rolled into an open construction trench, striking the pipeline. No one was injured in the incident, and response to the spill is still ongoing.

Following the leak, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources asked Enbridge to halt work on a temporary bypass around the site of the leak, saying the company lacked necessary approvals.

On Sept. 28, Enbridge also reported a release of groundwater at a site where crews were directly installing pipe underneath the Marengo River. It was initially reported as an aquifer breach, and the DNR has since said it’s still investigating the source of the release and determining any negative effects to groundwater.

This story was originally published by WPR.

Enbridge says another fire destroys drill rig on Line 5 project in northern Wisconsin 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.

An aquifer breach has occurred in northern Wisconsin, along the reroute path of the Enbridge Line 5 oil and gas pipeline. In a statement, Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said that “a flow of water was observed following the direct installation of pipe beneath the Marengo River.”

Kellner said that Enbridge is working with the Department of Natural Resources “and other engineering and environmental specialists to determine next steps.” The breach was first reported by Northern News Now.

It’s unclear how much water was released due to the breach. The DNR didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

In August, a section of Line 5 released more than 1.3 million gallons of natural gas liquid after an unoccupied truck rolled and damaged the pipeline. WPR reported that the leak was the largest of its kind for both Enbridge and the state of Wisconsin. 

Enbridge previously  breached an aquifer while building the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota. The breach led to an uncontrolled release of hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater. Minnesota’s attorney general filed charges against the company in that case. 

Line 5 is a decades-old pipeline that carries up to 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily from Ontario to the southern Unites States. In 2019, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued Enbridge to shut the pipeline down and to expel the Canadian-owned company from tribal lands. 

Enbridge has since begun work on rerouting Line 5 around the reservation, a move that has been contested by tribal communities and environmental groups as endangering ecosystems and natural resources. Legal battles over the pipeline’s future continue in federal court. Advocates have called on the Wisconsin DNR to revoke the permits granted to Enbridge to carry out the reroute.

On Tuesday, a DNR spokesperson sent an emailed statement to Wisconsin Examiner, stating that the state agency is monitoring the groundwater release. The breach occurred during the installation of a new section of pipeline. The spokesperson added that the area’s hydrology is complex and that “it is unknown if this event is caused by a aquifer breach. The flow rate for the release is 5% of the flow rates of confirmed aquifer breaches in other states involving similar projects.

This article was updated with comment from the Department of Natural Resources.

 

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A report filed with federal regulators estimates an August gas leak on Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin will cost at least $15.1 million.

An accident report filed by Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership Thursday with the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration shows emergency response makes up the bulk of the costs, estimated at nearly $9.9 million.

The company estimated public and private property damage and repairs at about $5 million. Environmental remediation and lost product account for the remainder of the estimated expenses.

Enbridge has said the leak occurred after a subcontractor’s unoccupied flatbed truck rolled into an open excavation site for a Line 5 valve project in Iron County, striking and puncturing the pipeline.

“The affected pipeline section was immediately isolated, and Line 5 was shut down. No injuries occurred, and one nearby rural residence was evacuated as a precaution,” wrote Stacy Soine, Enbridge’s regulatory compliance advisor.

The company told regulators about 33,000 barrels, or more than 1.3 million gallons, of natural gas liquids escaped during the incident. Most has not been recovered because propane and butane vaporized upon release. The company recovered 165 barrels from the trench with a vacuum truck.

The report sheds no new light on how the truck rolled into the trench, saying the cause remains under investigation. But WPR obtained a corrective action order issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, that states preliminary findings indicate “the tractor trailer was left temporarily unattended and placed in neutral transmission on a gradient slope prior to the failure.”

Enbridge told PHMSA it shut down the pipeline within three minutes of the leak. Line 5 resumed service Sept. 13. The report states that systems monitoring the pipeline were operating when the incident occurred. However, Soine wrote the company’s leak detection system did not trigger because of the immediate shutdown of Line 5.

The company reported the incident to the National Response Center an hour later at 11:02 a.m. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has said its spills hotline received notification at 11:15 a.m.

Enbridge said wildlife and water have not been affected.

“Community air monitoring is ongoing and has consistently shown safe air quality outside of the incident site. Monitoring wells continue to show no contamination, and soil and water monitoring remains ongoing,” Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said.

The company plans to test, remove and properly dispose of soil from the excavation area.

A PHMSA spokesperson said the agency’s investigation remains ongoing. Texas-based Stress Engineering Services will conduct a mechanical and metallurgical analysis of the failed section of pipe. The agency’s accident investigation team will also inspect the truck. Inspectors are in the region overseeing construction of the Line 5 reroute.

“PHMSA may pursue additional enforcement action if its investigation identifies any violations of federal pipeline safety regulations or if additional corrective actions are necessary,” a PHMSA spokesperson said.

WPR previously reported that federal accident data shows the leak is the company’s and state’s largest oil and gas pipeline spill in Wisconsin in more than 50 years.

Environmental advocates and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa have called on Gov. Tony Evers and the DNR to do more in response to the leak, including calling for a disaster declaration and revocation of permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute. They pointed to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s call for removal of Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, as well as a new regulatory review of Michigan permits issued for Enbridge’s tunnel project.

Neither the governor’s office nor the DNR has responded to those calls.

Line 5 carries up to 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily from Superior to Sarnia, Ontario. The pipeline serves 10 refineries and propane facilities in the Midwest and Great Lakes region.

Enbridge built a temporary bypass to bring the pipeline back online amid objections from the Wisconsin DNR, which said the company lacked state approvals. Enbridge contends the construction complied with existing permits and an application for changes to its stormwater permit. A DNR spokesperson has said the agency continues to review options in response to the unpermitted construction.

Last week, fires damaged two company sites — an office building in Superior and drilling equipment at a Line 5 reroute site in Ashland County. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading a probe into both fires.

Roughly two-thirds of the $1 billion Line 5 reroute has been built. The project employs 700 workers. As many as a dozen other spills have occurred during the project, according to a court filing by the Bad River band.

In 2020, Enbridge proposed the reroute after the Bad River band sued the company in 2019 to shut down and remove the pipeline from tribal lands where easements had expired.

Three years ago, a federal judge found the company was trespassing and ordered Enbridge to pay roughly $5 million and shut down or reroute Line 5. The band and Enbridge appealed the decision. In August, a federal appeals panel ruled that Enbridge has been trespassing and must remove the pipeline from the Bad River reservation. However, the panel gave the company more time to complete the Line 5 reroute.

This story was originally published by WPR.

Enbridge estimates northern Wisconsin Line 5 gas leak will cost $15M 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.

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.”