A Flock camera on the Lac Courte Orielles Reservation in Saywer County. | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

The Lac du Flambeau (LDF) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Police Office in Vilas County has a resource most rural law enforcement wouldn’t imagine: a surveillance room with approximately two dozen screens that are monitored by a full-time staff of four and two part-time workers.

Feeding images to those monitors are 160-plus cameras overlooking the central village area, less than one square mile of the reservation, including tribal administrative and commercial businesses.

There’s a good chance there isn’t another northern Wisconsin public space with such a high concentration of cameras or a staff to monitor the live images that are also recorded and stored for a minimum of 30 days.

A post on the tribe’s Facebook page by Clinton D. Isham, first revealed the extent of the tribe’s surveillance capabilities to the Wisconsin Examiner. 

“Bro, all those cameras that the Tribal police put up better pay off. Police want to do surveillance on Indians to lock us up, but can’t use them to protect us,” Isham wrote.

Isham’s comment was directed at why those 160-plus cameras at LDF didn’t record any image of Melissa Beson, 37, a tribal member who was last seen on the reservation on March 17 – the site where Beson was last seen was just outside the area of the cameras.

LDF Tribal Police Chief T.J. Bill said there’s another tribe in the Midwest interested in replicating what LDF has created as a way to improve safety for tribal members.

The significant investment at LDF in surveillance prompted the question of whether other Wisconsin tribes have also secured surveillance systems to address safety concerns and whether they are considering acquiring additional surveillance technology.

The Examiner reached  out to most of the other 11 federally recognized Wisconsin tribes about their surveillance, and along with LDF, three others responded: Oneida, Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO), and St. Croix.

Police chiefs of the four tribes said it appears that there is a high interest in using surveillance technology among the tribes, particularly a technology called Flock. 

Overall, the police chiefs said tribal members are supportive of using surveillance technology, including a reported survey by one tribe that tallied over 80% support by its members.

While law enforcement officials said the use of surveillance technology and implementation of the Flock system was broadly popular among tribal members, the expansion of surveillance capabilities has drawn controversy elsewhere in Wisconsin. 

The Milwaukee Police Department and Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department have recently been at the center of a debate about the use of surveillance cameras and Flock. 

“It is critical that our community has a say in if and how invasive surveillance technologies are used, how they are deployed against residents, if and how their data is stored and shared with third parties, and whether spending our limited tax dollars on surveillance technologies is the best way to promote public safety,” the ACLU of Wisconsin wrote in a May letter to the Milwaukee Common Council. 

Lac du Flambeau

Bill, the LDF tribal police chief, who began working with the tribe in 2013, stated that the surveillance system was already in place when he joined the department. He said that employees of the tribe’s IT department did the wiring and placement of the cameras, mostly between 2010 and 2011.

“It was directed by the tribal government, the tribal council, who wanted it for the protection of the people, for the safety of the public,” said Bill.

Bill said he didn’t know the motivation behind the creation of the surveillance system but noted that the LDF police department has been at the forefront of using technology and was one of the first law enforcement agencies in the area that had officers wearing body cameras.

“We don’t have 24/7 coverage,” he said of the cameras being monitored by staff, “but we strategically place them (staff) during the busy times, so it all depends on what’s going on, what our crime statistics tell us.”

Besides the 160 cameras, the tribe’s casino has its own internal surveillance system, which the casino monitors, a typical feature for casinos. The nearby LDF K-12 school also has its own surveillance system, which the police department can access and monitor.

With all the cameras in the LDF police department’s inventory, Beson wasn’t recorded because she was last seen in an area where there are no cameras. Bill said there have been efforts to put up remote cameras to monitor using cellular coverage, but cellular coverage is poor in the reservation and the county.

“We can’t rely on cellular-based equipment, especially during the summertime when our population goes from 4,000 individuals to 50,000 (including tourists and seasonal residents) because everyone is on their cell phones,” he said. “The cell service is horrible here in the Northwoods, so we have to rely on something else because we tried cameras in remote locations outside of the community where we can’t hook up electricity or fiber, and it doesn’t work.”

The Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) helped LDF set up a surveillance camera on Highway 70 near a former hotel that was being used for drug sales and possible human trafficking, but because that camera used a cellular connection, it wasn’t reliable.

Bill said the tribe has used recorded surveillance video to prosecute several offenses, including a string of burglaries.

“We went through the surveillance cameras and we found a couple of different vehicles, and we located one vehicle of interest and were able to track that vehicle through town, even though it was nighttime, and we were able to make an arrest for the burglaries,” he said.

They’ve also made several drug arrests using surveillance images.

“We’re able to watch individuals who make transactions,” he said. “The cameras are so good that we’re able to see into the cars where they’re doing the deals and catch them. We see the money exchanged in the car and a package delivered to the other person.”

A live feed from the convenience store showed a man lifting his wallet out of his pants and a small baggie with a white substance falling out, which alerted one of the monitors.

“He walked out of there and didn’t realize he had dropped it,” said Bill. “We went over there and we picked it up and it was a bag of cocaine.” Later, the man was charged with possession.

The big question is, do all the cameras make people safer, and do they deter crime?

Bill said the serious drug dealers know about the cameras and stay out of that area, but there are still some who forget about the cameras or think they hide their actions, but that’s pretty difficult when there are 160-plus cameras in such a concentrated area.

“For the most part, in my opinion, it is a deterrent,” he said. “To those we have arrested and interviewed, they’ll say they are doing the crimes, the transactions, outside the area of the cameras because they are everywhere, so it is a deterrent for them not to do their activity directly in the community, so they take their criminal activity outside that area.”

Having recorded digital evidence, said Bill, helps prosecute offenses.

“You go to court and you provide the evidence, that’s a huge part, not only to help with the investigation but also to protect the officer from allegations.”

Bill said there is support for expanding the surveillance system. This summer, the tribe is looking at using recently laid fiber optic lines to expand the system, allowing cameras to provide coverage of the more rural areas of the reservation such as where Beson was last seen.

Bill said there haven’t been complaints from tribal members over a lack of privacy or a “Big Brother” complaint about being observed by authorities when they are in the village area of the reservation.

“You get a complaint here and there, but it’s very few,” he said. “We don’t get the Big Brother concern. Overall, the community is in support of it.”

Oneida Nation

Eric Boulanger is the chief of police for the Oneida Nation in Northeast Wisconsin near Green Bay.

According to Boulanger, Oneida has a Security Department that is part of the tribe’s gaming commission that monitors cameras in parking lots outside the casino and several different businesses and buildings, and the school has a security department that monitors cameras within the school that the police also have the ability to access.

Over two years ago, Oneida also invested in four Flock cameras for use by the police department, which uses cameras and computers to record and track license plates. With Flock, Oneida has also integrated with the larger Flock system, which allows for searching and tracking vehicles in other communities.

Boulanger said what drove the investment in Flock is the positive reports from other local law enforcement.

“It’s a great law enforcement tool in general, not just for Oneida but any community that uses them,” said Boulanger. “It’s a fairly advanced system, and you’re able to search for vehicles and plates and that sort of thing. It lets you know if what you’re looking for is in your area.”

He added, “If you have an incident and you have any sort of vehicle description or if you have a suspect and you know their vehicle information, you can enter that into the system and then it’ll give you feedback on whether or not that vehicle was in your area.”

He added, “If you’re looking for a white Ford Bronco, you can put those parameters in there, and then they’ll show you pictures of those vehicles in a particular area.”

He was asked if the four Flock cameras are sufficient to cover the reservation.

“In the future, we may expand it,” he said. “Everything comes with a cost. They’re not real affordable, but you know where we have them placed, and with the other agencies in the area and the ability to use theirs, there’s pretty good coverage right now of our main thoroughfares, and highly trafficked areas.”

Asked if the surveillance cameras and Flock cameras help deter crime at Oneida, he said, “Well, you would think they would, but there are still plenty of people doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing.” 

“The cameras aren’t hidden, so it’s quite obvious and it’s posted, the areas under surveillance, “but people still do what they’re going to do. So, I mean, I would imagine it would deter some people, but obviously, it doesn’t deter everybody.”

He noted that recorded footage is very useful in the prosecution of a crime.

“Jurors and judges and prosecutors and defense attorneys like to have video,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to dispute a claim on either side if there is video.”

Boulanger hasn’t heard objections to the surveillance cameras or Flock.

“I haven’t heard any specific comments, nobody has directly addressed concerns with me about it, but I feel our community is pretty public safety cautious, so I think they’re probably more on the side of in favor of it than anybody would be against,” he said.

Lac Courte Oreilles

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indian Tribal Chief Susie Taylor said the tribal police doesn’t have a surveillance system of cameras operated by the police department or a special security department. Still, police have used footage from the casino for investigations, and the K-12 school does have its own surveillance system of cameras.

She notes that former chief of police Tim DeBrot was instrumental in securing Flock cameras for the tribe, which were placed earlier this year.

Taylor said the Flock cameras record and track information about vehicles, but they will not be used for speeding violations. She said the primary use is in the investigation of crimes.

In March, Taylor put out a press release about the Flock cameras that was printed in the Lac Courte Oreilles News:

“Flock cameras are designed to enhance public safety by capturing objective evidence, including license plate information, to help law enforcement prevent and solve crimes. These cameras do not use facial recognition and are not intended for traffic enforcement. Instead, they serve as a valuable investigative tool to identify stolen vehicles, locate missing children and adults, and deter criminal activity.”

In the press release, Taylor noted that the data from the cameras is stored and then deleted after a certain number of days if it is not being used in an investigation, and access to the information is limited to “authorized personnel” and not used for “surveillance or tracking individuals without cause.”

She also noted to the Wisconsin Examiner that the Flock cameras, by tying into the larger network of cameras, allow for the sharing of information across jurisdictional boundaries.

“Many other law enforcement agencies across the country have implemented Flock cameras due to their effectiveness in reducing crime and enhancing community safety,” she said.

She noted there are Flock cameras off the region’s major highway, Highway 53, located in Washburn County, that would be very effective in helping track a vehicle that had been on the reservation in Sawyer County.

Joe Morey, public relations director for LCO, said a survey of tribal members had been conducted regarding the use of surveillance technology, and over 80% of respondents were in support.

St. Croix

Of the four tribes, the St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians has the least investment and deployment of surveillance equipment.

According to police chief Donnie Holmes, in 2014-15, the St. Croix Tribal Police Department began using body cameras.

Holmes said his office will place stand-alone cameras to address individual complaints or for investigations.  As an example, he mentioned that there were complaints at the Sand Lake basketball court and parking area, where robberies had occurred, so cameras were installed on the assumption that the criminals might return.

Individual tribal businesses have their own security system for recording video that could be used for an investigation or prosecution.

“Super expensive,” Holmes said of the cost of implementing a surveillance system for St. Croix similar to LDF’s or even Oneida’s. He said for St. Croix it would be even more of a challenge in that the reservation is located in pockets of land over four different counties: Burnett, Barron, Douglas and Polk.

However, St. Croix is exploring the acquisition of Flock cameras. The biggest factor against proceeding is the cost.

Holmes appreciates the capability of Flock cameras, especially for integrating with other Flock cameras to track a suspect’s vehicle. If a vehicle can be identified, Holmes believes Flock cameras would be helpful locating a missing person.

“The nice thing about Flock is they can alert to car movements with other cameras tied to the system,” he said.

Holmes was asked if tribal members would have any objections to having a more advanced surveillance system, and he noted that there is some interest in investing in technology, but he also wonders if there would be objections over privacy rights if a surveillance system became too expansive.

Flock

Holly Beilin, director of communication for Flock, said in Wisconsin three tribes are using Flock cameras and in the United States 24 tribes have it, but because of confidentiality, she cannot identify which tribes have it.

Boulanger, the Oneida Nation chief, was asked why he thinks tribes are showing an interest in Flock cameras.

“With technology it’s a useful investigative tool,” he said, “And if you know any tribal agencies or tribal nations that have independent police departments and can fiscally handle the cost, it is probably going to look towards some sort of Flock or surveillance system just because that’s the trend right now in law enforcement, using technology.”

Beilin objected when told that at least two of the police chiefs said the Flock system is pricey.

“We typically hear it is much more cost-effective than other solutions,” she responded.

One of the big issues across Indian Country is missing and murdered indigenous women and relatives. The Flock cameras can be especially helpful for missing persons because they are automatically tied to Amber Alerts for children and Silver Alerts for seniors.

Beilin said Flock is working on incorporating the new federal alert for Native Americans, called Missing and Endangered Persons (MEP), which will be implemented later in 2025 and will be known as Turquoise Alerts.

“If a vehicle is associated with an Amber Alert, the license plate passes a camera in real time and will alert local law enforcement, so that law enforcement know, like, OK, that vehicle just passed this camera and is going in this direction, so it’ll be, you know, at this location, in five minutes,’” she said, “and they can actually go, hopefully, and apprehend that person.”

However, she noted that those who use the Flock system don’t have to tie into the larger network of Flock cameras and instead can  just use them locally. She also noted the local user is responsible for how long information is stored.

“No customer has to share,” she said. “So if a tribe wanted to share with local law enforcement nearby, they could, and if they wanted to just have their own police get those alerts and use it for investigations. That would also be fine,”

She was asked what is Flock’s appeal for tribes.

“It actually works,” she said. “It solves crime, and it helps find missing persons. I mean, we just really see that as soon as the cameras are installed, it starts to actually help these agencies or these tribes. You know, the vast majority of crime has some kind of a vehicle involved, right? Which makes sense. We all literally drive daily, and as do folks who commit crime.”

As for whether the Flock system infringes upon privacy rights,“We don’t own the data, the agencies or the tribes do, so they can choose what to do with it,” she said. “We can never sell it or share it without their permission. They can set or legislate their own retention period, so maybe they only want to keep the data for. Our default (to erase data collected) is 30 days, but it could be even less.”

Cameras in the Southwest 

Sergio DeSoto is a consultant from Arizona who works with tribes in the Southwestern areas of the United States on surveillance systems. He said that most tribes he has worked with invest in camera security after an incident has raised safety concerns.

“We hear, ‘we want to make sure our people are safe,’” he said.

DeSoto said surveillance cameras are typically requested for housing, administration, courts, and border security, and most tribes have staff who live-monitor cameras.

The safety concern can be over external issues like sex trafficking on the reservation, or internal issues of domestic disputes or alcohol or drug-related issues.

He said the No. 1  motivation for the tribal nation he deals with is personal safety.

“They’re not interested in the assets; they’re more interested in the people,” he said.

Typically, he said, there is an issue or an incident that drives a discussion about how to raise safety at a particular location, such as a homicide in tribal housing. Once the surveillance system has been in place for a while, the tribe often requests help focusing on other areas on the reservation.

DeSota said the tribal councils are also learning the importance of educating tribal members before implementing a new surveillance system.

“With the elder center in Quechan (Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe in Yuma, Arizona), the tribal council did a super good job communicating with them that we want to make sure everybody’s safe,” he said.

Regarding the question of whether surveillance cameras help deter crime and increase safety, DeSota said he doesn’t have any data to support that contention. However, he noted that when tribes consistently seek to expand their systems, it would indicate that they are receiving positive feedback.

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Flags of the 11 Native American tribes of Wisconsin in the Wisconsin State Capitol. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

At a state prison in Stanley, Wisconsin, participants in a Native American-focused group take part in traditional cultural practices.

According to Ryan Greendeer, executive government relations officer with the Ho-Chunk Nation, Stanley Correctional Institution’s chaplain recently reached out to the tribe with requests for the group’s programming.  

The chaplain wanted teaching materials, as many materials in the current selection were old. He said that men learn songs and Native language with the materials, as well as history and culture.

The chaplain said the men are eager to learn more about all things Native, according to Greendeer. He was also seeking a larger pipe bowl and poles to help build a new lodge. The pipe has a history of ceremonial use.  

The prison’s annual report for fiscal year 2024 mentions a Native American smudge and drum group. The report says that each month, several religious organizations and volunteers come in to hold various services, and the list includes “Sweat Lodge (Native American).”

There were 79 American Indian or Alaska Native people at Stanley Correctional as of April 30, according to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC). 

Gov. Tony Evers’ budget recommendations for corrections included a tribal liaison position for the DOC. The liaison would be responsible for working with Native American tribes and bands on the agency’s behalf.

Each of the governor’s cabinet agencies has already set at least one staff member to be a tribal liaison. The governor’s proposal would create a new position, set aside for the job of tribal liaison for corrections. 

Evers also proposed creating a director of Native American affairs in the Department of Administration and tribal liaisons in several other agencies, including the Department of Justice and Department of Natural Resources. 

“Gov. Evers’ commitment has been—and always will be—to ensure that the state maintains strong partnerships with the Tribal Nations by recognizing and respecting the needs and perspectives of the Nations and Indigenous people,” Britt Cudaback, communications director for the governor’s office, said in an email.

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee removed the proposed positions in May, along with hundreds of other items proposed by Evers. 

“Unfortunately, [Evers] sends us an executive budget that’s just piles full of stuff that doesn’t make sense and spends recklessly and raises taxes and has way too much policy,” Joint Finance Committee co-chair Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said in May.

Tribes already work with the state, including the Oneida Nation, which is located in northeast Wisconsin. The tribe told the Examiner that it continues to work with the state to make sure incarcerated Native Americans have proper access to culturally based practices and resources. 

With a tribal liaison that can help navigate the corrections system, the tribe’s efforts to make sure resources are provided and distributed appropriately make better progress, the tribe said. 

“These efforts will continue whether or not a tribal liaison position exists, although the impact on incarcerated individuals who use culturally based resources may be greater as efforts take longer,” the tribe said. 

The Oneida Nation said it “supports tribes’ efforts to ensure incarcerated members maintain access to appropriate support services as provided by tribal, state, and federal laws.”

Maggie Olson, communications coordinator for the St. Croix  Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, said the tribe is not located close to the corrections facilities where their tribal members are incarcerated. This is a significant barrier, she said. 

“It would be nice to be able to have a better handle on where our people are within the system to ensure they are having their spiritual and cultural needs met,” Olson said in an email to the Examiner. “It is much easier (at this time) to meet religious needs (think Christianity) within the correctional system than it is to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of Native Americans within the system.”

A great first step would be having a dedicated person who can build relationships with incarcerated Native Americans, she said.

In a statement, the tribe said the liaison “would be a start to developing and enhancing tribal input with State initiatives.” The tribe said it wants to work with the DOC on access to supportive services in county jails. 

Olson said she met DOC Secretary Jared Hoy at an event on June 5 and that they had a great discussion about the potential benefits of a tribal liaison at the agency.

“With the uncertainties surrounding federal funding, we are hopeful state funding will be increased to tribal programs in Wisconsin,” Olson said.

The tribe’s criminal justice work involves partnership with the DOC. In the St. Croix Tribal Reintegration Program, case managers work with tribal members before and after their release from prison or jail, the tribe said. The program has a memo of understanding with the Department of Corrections, providing guidance for working relationships between tribal reentry and probation.

All of the governor’s cabinet agencies have consultation policies that say how they will work with tribal governments. Agencies and tribal elected officials have annual consultation meetings to talk about programs, laws and funding that may affect the tribe. 

Discussions at the annual state-tribal consultation tend to be about high-level policy, but they can delve into specifics, Greendeer said. He gave an example related to tribal members who are on probation or parole. 

“For example, a topic that keeps coming up is re-entry programming for enrolled tribal member offenders,” Greendeer said. “A concern discussed at a recent consultation was that probation/parole officers might not consider tribal norms/values, citing a lack of eye contact in saying a client is disengaged or disconnected.”

The co-chairs and vice-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee did not respond to requests for comment. DOC communications director Beth Hardtke did not answer a question from the Examiner about the responsibilities and goals of the tribal liaison position.

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A billboard promoting Enbridge Inc. (Susan Demas | Michigan Advance)

Over two days of hearings this week, members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, environmental advocates and experts testified against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granting a permit to reroute Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and natural gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin. 

The tribe’s testimony was one of its last chances to prevent the new pipeline from being installed upstream of its reservation — which the tribe says will harm water quality in the watershed, encourage the growth of invasive species and damage wetlands, diminishing the ability to filter pollutants out of runoff before reaching surface waters. 

Enbridge insists the reroute plans do everything possible to minimize the environmental effect of pipeline construction and operation while industry groups and labor unions say the project has been vetted to ensure it isn’t harmful and that the arguments against the environmental effects of construction could be used to slow down any project in the state, not just those the tribe disagrees with politically. 

Last year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued its own permits for the company to build the pipeline with more than 200 added conditions to ensure compliance with state standards. Months after the DNR’s permit decision, a separate pipeline operated by Enbridge in Wisconsin spilled 69,000 gallons of crude oil in Jefferson County. 

The tribe is also challenging the DNR’s permit determination in a series of hearings later this summer. 

For decades, Line 5 ran through the tribe’s reservation and in 2023 a federal judge ordered that it be shut down. Since 2020, Enbridge has been working on a plan to reroute the pipeline, which runs from far northwest Wisconsin 645 miles into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, under the Straits of Mackinac and across the U.S. border into Canada near Detroit. It transports about 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily.

At the hearings this week, the tribe argued that under the Clean Water Act, the Corps shouldn’t grant the permits because the tribe has determined the new pipeline will negatively affect its water quality. 

Tribal chairman makes the case against Line 5

“Our people have resided in the Bad River watershed for hundreds of years,” Robert Blanchard, the tribe’s chairman, said Tuesday. “It’s our homeland. If the U.S. Army Corps grants these permits, Enbridge is undoubtedly going to destroy and pollute our watershed by trenching, blasting and horizontal drilling across hundreds of upstream wetlands and streams. I’m asking the U.S. Army Corps to think of the people and all the living things this will affect, and to deny the permit for this project.”

During Tuesday’s testimony, Blanchard added, “When I look at my homelands, I see it through the eyes of my grandfather, who saw it through the eyes of his grandfather.” 

Blanchard said he wants his grandchildren to be able to see their homelands through his eyes, too. He recounted boating up the Bad River toward Lake Superior as a boy, catching fish with his elders to eat or to sell at the market. His grandfather taught him to hunt and gather and to this day Blanchard gathers medicinal herbs which are used by his community, he said. He remembers the lumber companies that clear cut the forests, and, he said, some of his loved ones have died of cancer after living near an industrial dump site. 

“That was all in the Bad River watershed,” said Blanchard. He stressed that in tribal tradition, all things in nature have spirit, including the water. To the Bad River Band, nature is not only critical to human survival, it is a sacred thing to be protected. 

In their testimony Tuesday, Enbridge consultants and researchers downplayed concerns about how the pipeline reroute could harm local ecosystems. Just over 118 acres of forest will need to be cleared during construction and turned into a managed grassland. Experts testifying for the company said that the underground pipeline will not act as an underwater dam and disrupt groundwater flow, nor will the explosives used to blast trenches for the pipeline present a danger. Other concerns such as radioactive contamination, PFAS pollution (often called forever chemicals) and arsenic are not used by the project, and have not been detected in the area. 

Although Enbridge’s consultants and experts argued that the project would not violate the Bad River Band’s water quality standards, the Band itself disagreed, citing concerns about pollutants, water quantity and quality, hydrology, mineral content and water temperature. 

Connie Sue Martin, and environmental attorney who testified against the project said the Bad River Band “is the expert” on water quality in the area, not U.S. government agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Esteban Chiriboga, a geologist with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, testified that the rerouted pipeline’s distance from the reservation is irrelevant because contaminants can travel. Using imagery from Laser Imaging, Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology, Chiriboga demonstrated that waterways and flow channels between rivers, creeks and wetlands are interconnected. Others who spoke against the project on Tuesday expressed concerns about the potential for increased runoff, soil erosion, and the spread of invasive species as consequences of the project. 

On Wednesday, much of the tribe’s testimony centered around the ways in which the tribe’s members rely on the Bad River and its tributaries. 

“You will not find another community so dependent upon subsistence harvesting and dependent upon the health of our environment,” said Dylan Jennings, a member of the tribe and former appointee of Gov. Tony Evers to the state Natural Resources Board. “Simply put, our community maintains a relationship with the entire ecosystem and not a segmented area, we continue to utilize an entire system approach which naturally extends beyond our reservation boundaries.” 

Union members testify in favor of Line 5

During the public comment period of the hearing Wednesday, a number of labor union representatives defended the project as a source of local jobs and environmentally safe. Chad Ward, a representative of the Teamsters Local 346, said members of his union will work on the project and live locally, so they take “very seriously our commitment to the community and the environment around the construction site.” But, he said, the tribe’s complaints could be made about any construction project in the area. 

“I and others have grave concerns that the assertions made by the tribe could have impacts well beyond the Line 5 project itself,” Ward said. “Construction practices considered industry and regulatory best practices for environmental protection are cited as reasons by the tribe for why this project should not proceed, practices that are standard use all over the country” 

“They are practices the Band has been fine with for dozens of projects in the same area,” he continued. “This leaves the impression that these concerns are more based on the political views of the project than the construction method themselves. And while they’re entitled to their political views, it is the job of the permitting process to determine if the laws and regulations are being followed, not weigh the political arguments.” 

After Wednesday, the Army Corps will accept written comments on the permit approval for 30 days and then can make a decision any time after that. The hearings on the legal challenge to the DNR permits begin Aug. 12 in Ashland.

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A sign protesting Enbridge Line 5 in Michigan. (Laina G. Stebbins | Michigan Advance)

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is preparing to argue against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issuing a permit to reroute Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline in northern Wisconsin. 

For years, the tribe has fought against Line 5, which runs from far Northwest Wisconsin 645 miles into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, under the Straits of Mackinac and across the U.S. border  into Canada near Detroit. It transports about 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily. 

An underground section of the pipeline currently passes near a bend in the Bad River on the tribe’s reservation. In 2023, a federal judge ruled that the company was trespassing on tribal land and gave Enbridge three years to shut down the pipeline. 

Since 2020, Enbridge has been working on rerouting the pipeline about 41 miles away from tribal land. That proposal requires permits to be issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

The tribe is also currently challenging the state’s permitting process. Hearings will be held in August, September and October in Madison and Ashland in which an administrative law judge will hear arguments against the DNR’s decision to issue permits for the project. 

Army Corps approval of Enbridge’s plan to replace a separate section of the pipeline on the floor of the Straits of Mackinac has been fast tracked under President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring a national energy emergency, but the Bad River section of the pipeline is still moving forward under the normal approval process. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Bad River Band and its attorneys will present to the Corps their finding that the proposed rerouted pipeline, which would pass the Bad River upstream of the reservation, threatens the tribe’s water quality and therefore violates the Clean Water Act. 

The tribe’s presentation is scheduled to take all day Tuesday and some of Wednesday. Members of the public will then be able to provide public comment during a virtual hearing and send written comments for 30 days after the hearing. 

Robert Blanchard, the tribe’s chairman, says he’s working to protect the tribe’s resources and way of life by bringing the challenge. 

“Ultimately, we are protecting our resources. We’re downstream from this project. If it were to go in, were to happen, there’s a lot at stake just with how this will affect our waters,” he says. “We have one of the biggest wild rice areas on the Great Lakes. We have a lot of medicines that I and members of my community collect that have been around for hundreds of years, and we have hunting and fishing rights that will be affected. You know, if we can’t use those because of what’s happening upstream, then that will affect our way of life.” 

Juli Kellner, a spokesperson for Enbridge, says the hearings this week are an important step for completing the project, which she adds won’t affect water quality. 

“Extensive and thorough analysis by leading, third-party experts has confirmed that construction impacts will be temporary and isolated, have no measurable impact on water quality, and will not violate the Bad River Band’s water quality standards,” Kellner says. “The project will have environmental protections and restoration plans in place, as approved by state regulators. State permits were issued last fall. We’re confident the Corps is close to completing its process which has included more than five years of public input, expert studies, and rigorous review. In fact, this is one of the most studied projects in Wisconsin’s history.” 

Under the Clean Water Act, if the Corps finds that the project will adversely affect a downstream jurisdiction’s water quality and there are no conditions that can be put on the permit to ensure water quality standards aren’t violated, the permit cannot be granted, according to the tribe’s attorney, Stefanie Tsosie. 

“We are presenting evidence to the Army Corps that the band’s water quality standards will be affected, and there are no conditions that they can put on the project permit such that they can issue it,” she says. “So, I think our hope here is one, to show how much the project is going to impact the advanced water quality, but then two, urge the Corps to not issue the section 404 permit eventually.” 

But the hearing is taking place as the Trump administration has worked to encourage more extraction of natural resources, boost the oil industry and go easier on polluters. Last week, the climate-focused news outlet Grist reported that under Trump, the EPA has practically stopped enforcing the country’s environmental laws. 

Tsosie says all the tribe can work with is what the law says. 

“Well, the standard in the Clean Water Act is pretty clear,” she says. “And that’s statute, so that’s what we’re going with.” 

Blanchard says he can’t forecast what the Corps is going to do, but he can just make his best case that granting the permit will be harmful to everyone who lives downstream. 

“I wish I had that crystal ball to be able to forecast that, but I don’t, so what we’re going to do tomorrow is do our very best to convince them that this is the way it should be,” he says. “We need to look after our Mother Earth, to pay attention to what we’re doing, what’s happening to it, and like I said before, it’s going to affect not just our way of life and not just those that live in the region, not just us as Anishinaabe people, but everybody.” 

If the Corps grants the permit, that decision could still be challenged in court.

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