STOP THE LINE 5 PIPELINE
INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S TREATY ALLIANCE
Protect Water, Communities, and Climate
PROTECT WATER! SAY NO TO THE LINE 5 TUNNEL: Submit a comment by June 30, 2026
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has opened a public comment period on Enbridge’s permit request to discharge treated wastewater from the proposed Line 5 tunnel project under the Straits of Mackinac. The proposed tunnel would bring years of destructive construction to the Straits of Mackinac, a sacred site for Anishinaabe peoples, while threatening wetlands, fish and bird habitats, water quality, recreation, and local economies.
Public comments are accepted now through June 30. Tell Michigan to protect the Great Lakes, stand with Tribal Nations, and reject all permits for this dangerous Line 5 tunnel project.
Learn more about why we must shutdown the Line 5 pipeline and stop the proposed Line 5 expansion project below.
ABOUT LINE 5
Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline was originally built in 1953, and continues to operate 23 years past its engineered lifespan, transporting 22 million gallons of crude oil each day through northern Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and under the Straits of Mackinac. This pipeline has already leaked over one million gallons of oil since its original construction.
Now, Enbridge is proposing to expand the Line 5 pipeline, despite strong opposition from Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Wisconsin, as well as all 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan who oppose the dual pipelines resting on the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac—a vital, sacred waterway connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The new Line 5 pipeline expansion and re-route would threaten local aquifers, hundreds of waterways, Treaty Rights, and our global climate. The proposed tunnel would also bring destructive construction to the Straits of Mackinac, alongside the dangers of introducing 'man camps'—temporary housing for fossil fuel industry workers— which correlate to increased rates of gender-based violence and the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR).
The proposed pipeline expansion is set to route through the lands and territories of multiple tribal nations, crossing more than 900 waterways, including the Kakagon and Bad River Sloughs, and vast wetlands that contain the Great Lakes’ only remaining coastal wild rice fields. These sloughs, bogs and coastal lagoons represent 40 percent of Lake Superior’s coastal wetlands. The Great Lakes span 4,530 miles of coast and account for 21 percent, or one-fifth, of the world’s freshwater. More than 40 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water— roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population and 30 percent of the Canadian population.
Despite a court-ordered mandate requiring Enbridge to leave Bad River Band after being found guilty of illegal trespass, Enbridge has now requested four new waterway permits. If approved, these dangerous permits would allow permanent construction across sensitive waterway channels connected to the Great Lakes.
Communities continue to resist fossil fuel pipelines and infrastructure to avert the worst impacts of escalating interlocking crises. Since 2022, WECAN has been very honored to facilitate the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, a group of Indigenous women leaders from the Great Lakes region, to resist the advancement of the Line 5 pipeline.
Please see our letter here to the Army Corps of Engineers expressing our concerns and urging the department to deny necessary permits for the expansion of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, and to conduct a federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the entire pipeline within the Army Corps of Engineers’ jurisdiction. The letter was endorsed by over 200 groups nationwide.
Indigenous Women's Treaty Alliance members include:
-
Aurora Conley (Bad River Ojibwe), Senior Council Member, Bad River Tribal Council; Vice President, League of Women Voters; Land Office, Mashkiziibii Natural Resources Department; Anishinaabe Environmental Protection Alliance; 1854 Treaty
-
Gaagigeyaashiik Dawn Goodwin (Gaawaabaabiganigaag) (White Earth-Ojibwe), Co-founder, R.I.S.E. Coalition (Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging), Representative, Indigenous Environmental Network; 1855 Treaty
-
Jannan J. Cornstalk (Citizen of Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians), Director, Water is Life Festival; 1794 and 1855 Treaty
-
Nookomis Debra Topping (Nagajiiwanong), 1854 Treaty Fond du Lac, Co-founder, R.I.S.E. Coalition (Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging); 1854 Treaty
-
Rene Ann Goodrich (Bad River Ojibwe), Native Lives Matter Coalition and Wisconsin Department of Justice MMIW Task Force, Duluth Gaagige -Mikwendaagoziwag Founding Committee; 1854 Treaty
To learn more, please read this Ms. Magazine article for further information highlighting the efforts of Indigenous women leaders working tirelessly to Stop Line 5.
Please watch WECAN’s video highlighting Indigenous women leaders fighting to stop Line 5 and protect the water, climate, and Indigenous rights!
Indigenous Women's Treaty Alliance
Delegation to Washington D.C.
Indigenous Women's Treaty Alliance members and allies in Washington D.C. for a petition delivery to stop the Line 5 pipeline in the Great Lakes region. Photo Credit: Ashley Guardado/WECAN
The Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance and environmental groups delivered a petition with 9,000+ signatures calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a robust environmental review of the Line 5 crude oil pipeline reroute. During the petition delivery, the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance brought attention to the cultural and environmental impacts of the Line 5 pipeline, the need for a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Line 5 reroute, and the urgent calls to shutdown and decommission the pipeline permanently. Please find a livestream of the rally here.
Alexus Koski, Bad River Tribal youth leader, speaks out during the petition delivery in Washington D.C. to stop the Line 5 pipeline.
Photo Credit: Ashley Guardado/WECAN
Members of the Indigenous Women's Treaty Alliance meet with Congressional staff leaders to discuss the impacts of the Line 5 pipeline. Photo Credit: Ashley Guardado/WECAN
The petition delivery and rally was led by the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance (IWTA) with support from the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) and Sierra Club. Find a photo album of the advocacy events here.
Speakers included Rene Ann Goodrich, Bad River Tribal Elder, Native Lives Matter Coalition and Wisconsin Department of Justice MMIW Task Force Member, and Member of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance; Alexus Koski, Bad River Tribal Youth Leader, Stop Line 5 Advocate and Rene Ann’s granddaughter; Gaagigeyaashiik - Dawn Goodwin, Gaawaabaabiganigaag, White Earth-Ojibwe, Co-founder of R.I.S.E. Coalition, Representative of Indigenous Environmental Network, Line 3 Representative and Member of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance; Nookomis Debra Topping, Nagajiiwanong (1854 Treaty Fond du Lac), Co-founder of R.I.S.E. Coalition, Line 3 Representative and Member of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance; with opening comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN).
Ahead of the delivery, members of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, WECAN and Sierra Club met with Congressional leaders and representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the Line 5 pipeline, and why it needs to be shutdown permanently. Learn more about the petition delivery here.
Indigenous water protectors and allies host a rally to stop the Line 5 pipeline, protect local waterways, and bring awareness to the epidemic of Missing Murdered Indigenous Women. Photos courtesy of Rene Anne Goodrich / Indigenous Women's Treaty Alliance.
Indigenous water protectors and allies host a rally to stop the Line 5 pipeline, protect local waterways, and bring awareness to the epidemic of Missing Murdered Indigenous Women. Photos courtesy of Rene Anne Goodrich / Indigenous Women's Treaty Alliance.
