A group of Ashland residents held a protest Wednesday against the use of municipal water for constructing the controversial reroute of Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline across northern Wisconsin.
The reroute has been protested and challenged in court by locals, members of the nearby Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and environmental groups for years.
“Michels Construction, a subcontractor of Enbridge, is taking precious water from Lake Superior out of the City of Ashland municipal water supply to build Line 5,” the protesters said in a joint statement. “This sacred water is being used to devastate our wetland and forest ecosystems and being returned with unknown contaminants for our community to deal with. This is a violation of the Great Lakes Compact and a direct threat to Anishinaabe Treaty Rights. Ashland needs to stand by their resolution of support to the Bad River Tribe and demand a halt to Michels’ water usage.”
Locals have seen Michels construction trucks being filled with water at the Ashland water station. Ashland municipal water comes from Lake Superior. Locals argue the public hasn’t been notified of a contract with Michels for the water use nor has there been a discussion over how much water would be used.
Enbridge plans to use a process called horizontal directional drilling to pass 30,000 feet of pipe underneath 23 bodies of water in the region, according to the project’s environmental impact statement. About 15% of the relocated pipeline is being installed using this process, through a contract with Michels Construction.
HDD involves drilling a hole underneath the body of water through which the pipeline is then fed. The drilling process requires water to be mixed with clay and other additives to use as lubricant for the drills and other tools. The other additives are contain “proprietary ingredients” that are kept from public view, however the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources documents show the company agreed that any ingredients used will comply with state standards.
“The drilling fluid would consist primarily of water (approximately 95%) and bentonite, which is a type of clay,” according to the environmental impact statement. “Water for the drilling fluid would be obtained from a known safe source free of bacterial and chemical contamination. Additives could be included in the drilling mud to improve its ability to transport cuttings to the surface, provide a stable hole, and lubricate the drilling tools. Enbridge has stated in its Construction Site General Permit application that the company will only use additives that are considered pre-approved for use in potable well drilling or are listed on the DNR’s Approved Horizontal Directional Drilling Products List.”
However the HDD process can often cause inadvertent releases of the lubrication slurry, raising concerns among residents.
As a community on one of the Great Lakes, Ashland is subject to the Great Lakes Compact, an agreement among the American and Canadian governments dictating how the lakes’ water can be used. The compact requires that any water taken be returned in a clean state.
The Ashland city administrator did not respond to a request for comment about the approval of the water usage. Enbridge also did not respond to a request for comment.
