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Enbridge Wins Key US Permit for Line 5 Oil Pipeline Reroute Around Bad River Reservation

In its filing, the Justice Dept. said a lower district court’s 2023 assumption that three years would allow the market to adjust and Enbridge to advance a reroute has “proved insufficient,” noting that the appeals court has yet to rule more than two years after oral arguments. Allowing the shutdown to take effect before the appeal is resolved, the government argued, would force an irreversible operational halt even though the legal outcome of the case remains unsettled.

The Justice Dept. also emphasized that while Enbridge has secured a key federal permit for its Wisconsin relocation, that approval remains under legal challenge, leaving the project short of full construction certainty. The filing stated that there is no alternative transportation to replace Line 5 volumes if operations are stopped in June, urging the court to delay the injunction to avoid what it described as “grave costs of error” during appellate review.

For contractors and engineers tracking the project, the Justice dept.'s intervention underscores a reality ENR has reported for years: construction planning for Line 5 is being governed more by court calendars than by means and methods.

Reroute Status and Next Steps

Enbridge’s strategy for keeping Line 5 in service centers on the Wisconsin Segment Relocation Project, which would replace about 20 miles of existing pipe—including roughly 12 miles crossing the reservation—with a new 41-mile, 30-in.-diameter pipeline routed around the reservation through Ashland, Bayfield and Iron counties.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District in Minnesota 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 earlier state filings placing the project’s cost at about $450 million.

The Wisconsin dispute is separate from litigation over Line 5’s crossing of the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, but together the cases have shaped Enbridge’s systemwide construction planning.

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Michigan Appeals Court Affirms State Approval for Line 5 Energy Pipeline Fix

For the Wisconsin reroute, the immediate issue is whether Enbridge will have sufficient time and legal certainty to move from permitting into full construction before the June deadline. If the court grants a stay, the company would gain additional runway to resolve litigation and sequence work. If the stay is denied, Enbridge would face the prospect of shutting down an active pipeline segment before its replacement is built. Canada has also asserted, via diplomatic channels, that any shutdown of Line 5 would violate a 1977 pipeline treaty between the U.S. and its northern neighbor.

The court has not yet ruled on Enbridge’s request.