Water Protectors to rally against Enbridge Line 5 during Biden visit today

March 2, 2022 by WCMCoop Editor

SUPERIOR, Wis. – On Wednesday, March 2 at 1 p.m. CT, a coalition of grassroots groups, Indigenous leaders, and local citizens from Wisconsin and Minnesota will rally near President Joe Biden’s visit to UW-Superior, advocating for immediate clean energy and climate investments in the Build Back Better Act, and executive action to shut down the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline. Line 5 is vulnerable to catastrophic spills under Lake Huron and Lake Michigan at the Straits of Mackinac, and on the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin.

President Biden’s speech will focus on infrastructure, and organizers will call for a moratorium on new fossil fuel infrastructure and in favor of 21^st century renewable energy investments and green transportation options that will address the climate emergency and create new sustainable jobs of the future.

The demonstration comes just days after the International Panel on Climate Change released its bleakest warning to date on the global impacts of the climate emergency. The report details human actions that are driving the crisis and states that the window for action is closing.

Local organizers seek to bring attention to the imminent risks the Line 5 oil pipeline poses to the Great Lakes. A serious rupture of Line 5 into the Great Lakes would cause economic and environmental devastation. Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan are the water source for millions of people and underlie major tourism, fishing, real estate, recreation, and education economies. The Line 5 pipeline is 69 years old, built to last 50 years.

The US Army Corps and Wisconsin DNR are currently considering permits for a proposed reroute of Line 5 around the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin. The proposed route would cross through 184 waterways upstream of the Bad River Reservation, threatening drinking water and critical food sources.

The Bad River Reservation is home to the Kakagon and Bad River sloughs, the only extensive wild rice bed remaining on the Great Lakes, recognized as a wetland of international importance by the Ramsar Convention.

WHAT: 

Shut Down Line 5! Build Back Fossil Free!

WHEN: 

Wednesday, March 2, 1:00 p.m. CT

WHERE: 

Douglas County Courthouse (1313 Belknap St, Superior, WI 54880), gathering at the corner of Belknap St & Hammond Avenue

WHO: 

Co-sponsoring organizations include: Honor the Earth, National Wildlife Federation, Northwoods Socialist Collective, Building Unity, Native Lives Matter Coalition.