The Canadian oil pipeline giant Enbridge will pay Wisconsin law enforcement for riot suits, training, and hours spent policing protests, according to an agreement approved by two counties last week. The secretive arrangement offers an uncapped funding source to local sheriffs as the company prepares for disruptive, Indigenous-led resistance to the controversial Line 5 reroute.
Last Tuesday, Enbridge began construction on a 41-mile segment of Line 5, which carries around 540,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids daily from a transfer point in Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario. The pipeline is designed to send fossil fuels from Canada’s tar sands region and the Bakken fracking fields to U.S. refineries before shipping much of the refined products back into Canada.
The proposed reroute comes after the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa fought for years to force Enbridge to shut down an existing 12-mile segment of the pipeline that passes through the tribe’s reservation. After several of the pipeline’s easements expired in 2013, the Bad Ri... Read more
