FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
CONTACT: Chuck Schobert wisconsin@thirdact.org.
Madison, Wisconsin–Third Act Wisconsin, a working group of elders safeguarding our
climate and democracy, strongly opposes the state Department of Natural Resources
(DNR)’s approval of a Line 5 pipeline re-route that threatens northern Wisconsin
wetlands and rivers, including the largest wild rice bed on the Great Lakes.
In a hearing in Madison today, an administrative law judge will hear public testimony
about the DNR’s approval of a proposal for the Canadian company Enbridge to build 41
miles of new pipeline around the borders of the Bad River Band reservation, where Line
5 is currently trespassing. The pipeline would involve blasting, horizontal drilling, or
trenching across at least 186 waterways and 101 acres of high-quality wetlands, directly
threatening the Bad River Watershed and Lake Superior. Pipeline construction would
destroy areas where Tribes have rights to hunt, fish, and gather under treaties with the
United States.
“For decades, the Bad River Band has been sounding the alarm about the
unprecedented risks posed by Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline.” says Ellen Ferwerda, who
leads Third Act Wisconsin’s work on Line 5. “In addition, a myriad of scientists,
economists, environmental groups, and citizens have spoken out against the Line 5
Reroute. Yet, the DNR summarily dismissed these concerns and issued a permit
allowing Enbridge to begin construction on a reroute around the Bad River Reservation.
It feels like the Bad River Band is being punished for standing up for their legal right to
protect the watershed their culture and livelihood has relied on for centuries.”
“We should be decommissioning old and dangerous pipelines, not investing in new
fossil fuel infrastructure,” said Julia Isaacs, Co-Facilitator of Third Act Wisconsin, a
volunteer-run working group of elders sixty and older. “Line 5’s greenhouse emissions
DNR should be joining us in working for clean water and a healthy planet for our
grandchildren and generations to come.”
Enbridge’s partial re-build of its aging Line 5 infrastructure received permits from
Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in November 2024. The DNR’s
approval is being legally challenged by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa,
Clean Wisconsin, and by Midwest Environmental Advocates on behalf of Sierra Club,
the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and 350 Wisconsin. By order of an
administrative law judge, no construction is permitted on the reroute while the case is
ongoing. The project also still requires federal permits from the US Army Corps of
Engineers.
Third Act Wisconsin is a growing group of Wisconsin elders, sixty and older, who are
harnessing our generational power to safeguard our climate and democracy. We are a
volunteer-run, state-wide working group of Third Act.
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The 19 million cars is based on an estimate of 87 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually