U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issues permit for Enbridge Line 5 Re-route despite challenges to state permits
Prepared by Nancy Larson,WI Green Fire, October 31, 2025
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) issued a permit on Oct. 29, 2025, to allow construction of the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline re-route around the Bad River Band’s reservation USACOE news release. The proposed 41-mile route crosses 186 water bodies and 101 acres of wetlands in the construction area in Ashland and Iron counties (Wisconsin DNR Final EIS).
Under the Clean Water Act, this federal permit is contingent on state and tribal certification that the project would meet state and tribal water quality standards.
The state permits issued in November 2024 serve as the state’s water quality certification. They are being contested by several organizations. The contested case hearing before an Administrative Law Judge on the state permits ended in early October 2025 and a decision is expected early next year. The administrative law judge blocked construction activities pending the decision.
Although the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa found that the project would not meet tribal water quality standards, the USACOE press release indicates “the proposed activities were also determined to be compliant with federal Tribal Trust responsibilities.”
The reroute was planned in response to a separate federal court ruling that the existing 12-mile segment of pipeline through the Bad River reservation must be removed by June 2026.
In August 2024, Wisconsin’s Green Fire (WGF) reviewed the USACOE Draft Environmental Assessment for the reroute permit and submitted comments WGF Comments USACE DCDD L5R 8-29-24_final (1). WGF encouraged the USACOE to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate oil spills and other critical issues. An EIS was not done.
As of October 31, 2025, WGF has been unable to locate the actual Enbridge permit on the USACOE website or public portal for regulatory decisions https://permits.ops.usace.army.mil/orm-public.
Midwest Environmental Advocates has additional information on the challenges to the state permits.
More from WGF on Enbridge Line 5 and the Line 5 Reroute:
- https://wigreenfire.org/enbridge-line-5-pipeline-update-august-2025/
- https://wigreenfire.org/enbridge-line-5-updates-3march2025
- https://wigreenfire.org/enbridge-line-5-pipeline-december-2024/
- https://wigreenfire.org/eis-dcdd-enbridge-pipeline-l5r-09-2024/
- https://wigreenfire.org/comments-on-enbridge-pipeline-reroute-in-northern-wisconsin/
- https://wigreenfire.org/a-guide-to-water-resource-permitting-for-pipeline-construction-in-wisconsin/
- https://wigreenfire.org/enbridge-line-5-oil-pipeline-relocation-wisconsins-green-fire-comments/
- https://wigreenfire.org/wisconsins-green-fire-work-on-oil-pipelines/
- https://wigreenfire.org/guides-to-oil-pipeline-regulation-in-wisconsin/
- https://wigreenfire.org/a-guide-to-water-resource-permitting-for-pipeline-construction-in-wisconsin/