See below for the latest news stories about Enbridge, pipelines, and property rights
July 26-Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Underway in Wisconsin
Tribal and environmental groups in Minnesota have opposed Enbridge’s plans to replace Line 3. They would like to see the pipeline removed from service or see the existing line removed from the ground. Enbridge is planning to abandon the original line and leave it in place, Smith said.
July 11- Horse-mounted protesters ride Wisconsin route of Canadian tar sands Pipeline
“They say they’re not really (planning to build another pipeline) but if they’re not why are they paying millions of dollars in surveying and talking to landowners about 200-foot easements,” said Greendeer, noting that landowners currently have 80-foot easements where Line 61 passes underneath their property.
June 25-Parade on the Pipeline near Rio reminds residents of oil risks
“And that’s just a small problem of the problems we have with it,” said Biddle. “My thinking is that Line 61 was put in in ’68, so that’s over 40 years old. They’ll just abandon it, because there is nothing in the contract that says they have to take it out. They only have to repair it if it leaks.”
January 24- Portage Daily Register: Columbia County landowners want state to oppose oil pipeline expansion
“Wisconsin landowners won’t give up more land to Enbridge without a fight, Rio resident Kevin Stoddard told the Columbia County Board last week.
Stoddard summarized for the board his experiences with the Canadian company’s oil pipeline that runs through his property in rural Rio, warning that possible pipeline expansions would “provide little (economic) benefit” to the people of Wisconsin while posing a significant risk to the environment.”
Jan 13- Journal Sentinel 5-Part Series: The Path of Least Resistance
“There is nothing on the continent like this ever-expanding pipeline network, owned by Canada’s Enbridge Inc. and its subsidiaries, and not just because it runs to the shores of the Great Lakes, a drinking water source for some 40 million people.
“The Enbridge Mainline system is the largest in the country,” said Paul Blackburn, an attorney who has represented a number of environmental groups in legal battles, including against Keystone XL. “A lot of oil goes through there. Much more than people understand.”
Journal Sentinel Editorial: Just whose side are they on?
“Caught between the rock and hard place, Wisconsin needs legislators and a governor who will stand up for the people of this state — and who will make sure they gain, and don’t lose, from the ever-growing river of oil flowing through it.”
Journal Sentinel Letter-to-the-Editor
“Will some principled conservatives please stand up at the Capitol and craft a bill outlawing eminent domain for private gain for oil pipelines? Americans will be watching.”
“In November, Haase was asked at a Sawyer County committee meeting how many anomalies are in Line 6A, built the same year, 1968, as Line 3 (a pipeline across Minnesota into Superior). Enbridge is seeking to replace that line because of 800 documented anomalies noted in the permitting papers to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
October 26- Daily Cardinal: Expansion of Eminent Domain hits home
“…these are truly public projects that benefit the community in the immediate context and for future generations. This is a project that offers zero permanent economic gains to Marshfield and destroys my family’s property value while spitting in the face of our hard work with “just compensation”
Michigan Homeowners Powerless to Stop Enbridge pipeline crossing
“Without state or federal regulations to protect them, people who live along the 210-mile Michigan section of Enbridge’s new pipeline have been left to plead with a company many say is indifferent to their concerns.…”
Protecting our homes and water 