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A Lake Superior tribe wants a court to halt construction of a Canadian energy firm’s $450 million plan to reroute an oil and gas pipeline around its reservation in northern Wisconsin.
As Danielle Kaeding reports, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa asked a court last week to review a decision that upheld state permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 relocation project.
The Bad River tribe is challenging a recent decision by an administrative law judge that upheld wetlands and stormwater construction permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute.
Attorneys representing the tribe also filed a motion to put construction on hold until an Iron County judge hears their case.
The tribe’s chair, Elizabeth Arbuckle, said in a statement that the Bad River watershed is not an oil pipeline corridor, and the tribe must protect its homeland.
An Enbridge spokesperson said it would be unreasonable to halt construction following the judge’s decision and years of state review. Enbridge has said state permits contain extensive environmental protections and restoration plans.
The company says construction would not cause significant harm to water quality or wetlands. The Bad River tribe disputes that.
The project would involve blasting and drilling to install the pipeline. The Line 5 reroute would cross close to 200 waterways and more than 100 acres of wetlands. Enbridge has said it would create 700 jobs during construction.
(Photo: Murphy Woodhouse / Mountain West News Bureau)
Declining snowpack is affecting tribal agriculture and traditional food systems across the West.
A new webinar series is helping Indigenous communities adapt.
For the Mountain West News Bureau, Daniel Spaulding has more.
Across the region, snowpack is below average heading into spring runoff. That has major implications for tribal producers who rely on snowmelt for irrigation, livestock, and traditional foods.
The Native Resilience Project is a four-year effort to build resilience in tribal agriculture. This year, the project evolved to address the ongoing snow drought.
Dr. Kyle Bocinsky is a partner on the project and the Director of Climate Extension at the Montana Climate Office.
“It’s going to be variable across communities, but I think the biggest takeaway is just that what we’re seeing right now is, at least for the last 25 years, a historically low snowpack situation. And it’s going to tax a lot of our systems.”
The webinars cover snow conditions, drought assistance programs, drought planning, and new pathways for tribes to directly request federal disaster declarations.
There are three more webinars in the series, which ends in May.
Hannah Bissett with her family sheltering in place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (Courtesy Hannah Bissett)
An Alaska Native family from Wasilla is sheltering in place outside Puerto Vallarta.
Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.
The family became stranded along with about 500 other tourists at their resort, after the Mexican military killed a notorious drug lord known as “El Mencho”.
Other cartel members died and a wave of violence followed.
Suspected cartel members torched businesses, buses, and cars in retaliation for the killings.
Hannah Bissett says she and her mother, grandmother, ten-year-old brother, and a family friend had just arrived in Mexico.
“We had like a half a day of normalcy, and as we were going to bed, things started turning upside down and got pretty intense pretty quickly.”
Bissett said she and her family have not left their resort. All the stores around them, along with the hotel’s restaurants, are closed.
“Assuming things are closed, still, like the major grocery stores nearby, or even the local markets, in the next three or four days, we’re gonna run out of food.”
Bissett says the resort has been serving an evening buffet meal once a day. Overall, Bissett says she and her family are staying calm yet vigilant – encouraged that traffic seems to be moving again.
Bissett says she received a personal phone call from U.S. Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) and calls from the offices of U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. All said they are ready to assist if necessary.
Bissett is a former reporter at KNBA and currently a graduate student at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
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