On Feb. 3, the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge in Wisconsin to stay a June 16 court-ordered shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and natural gas pipeline on tribal lands, arguing that forcing the shutdown before appeals are resolved could disrupt regional energy supplies and complicate U.S. treaty obligations with Canada.
The filing, filed in the long-running case brought by the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa/Ojibwe Indians, supports Enbridge’s request to stay a court order requiring the company to stop operating Line 5 on parcels inside the Bad River Reservation where it does not have a valid easement. Federal lawyers said the court should reconsider that order while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit continues to weigh Enbridge’s appeal.
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In its filing, the Justice Department said the district court’s 2023 assumption that three years would allow the market to adjust and Enbridge to move forward with a reorientation has “proven insufficient,” noting that the Seventh Circuit has yet to rule more than two years after oral arguments. Allowing the shutdown to take effect before the appeal is decided, the government argued, would force an irreversible operational shutdown even though the legal outcome of the case has not yet been decided.
The Justice Department also emphasized that while Enbridge has secured a key federal permit for its Wisconsin relocation, that approval remains legally challenged, leaving the project without full construction certainty. The filing claimed there is no alternative transportation to replace the Line 5 volumes if operations were to stop next June, and urged the court to delay the demand to avoid what it described as “serious costs of error” during the appellate review.
For contractors and engineers following the project, the DOJ intervention underscores a reality that ENR has reported for years: Line 5 construction planning is governed more by court calendars than by means and methods.
Redirect status and next steps
Enbridge’s strategy to keep Line 5 serving the centers of the Wisconsin segment relocation project, which would replace about 20 miles of existing pipeline, including about 12 miles that cross the reservation, with a new 41-mile, 30-inch-diameter pipeline routed around the reservation through Ashland, Bayfield and Iron counties.
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The district of St. Paul of the US Army Corps of Engineers issued a federal permit for the relocation in October, but the Bad River Band has challenged that approval in court. ENR previously reported that the reroute would be built by Michels Pipeline Inc. under a 2022 project labor agreement, with previous state statements putting the cost of the project at about $450 million.
The Wisconsin dispute is separate from litigation over the Line 5 crossing of the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, but together the cases have shaped construction planning across Enbridge’s system.
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For Wisconsin’s reorientation, the immediate issue is whether Enbridge will have enough time and legal certainty to move from permitting to full construction before the June 2026 deadline. If the court grants a stay, the company would get an additional clue to resolve the litigation and backlog work. If the stay is denied, Enbridge faces the possibility of shutting down an active pipeline segment before its replacement is built. Canada has also claimed through diplomatic channels that any shutdown of Line 5 would violate a 1977 pipeline treaty between the US and its northern neighbour.
The court has not yet ruled on Enbridge’s request.
