Wisconsin is quickly becoming the tar sands superhighway for the country--and communities are left to assume all the risk
If oil companies get their way, Wisconsin will be flush with oil...as a means to get that oil south. With the growing demand to get oil to the Gulf Coast, likely for export, we are seeing a move to increase the amount of oil flowing through Wisconsin via rail, pipelines, and even barge shipping. For oil companies, it's by any and every way. Wisconsin communities are left to assume all the risks.
Enbridge has announced plans to build a “Line 61-twin”, meaning another tar sands pipeline through the heart of Wisconsin. Once the expansion is complete, Line 61 will be the largest tar sands pipeline in the world outside of Russia. Twinning it could mean that Wisconsin could have another largest tar sands pipelines outside of Russia. Twinning it means Wisconsin could be another pipeline that travels under the St. Croix River, the Wisconsin River, and the Rock River. Twinning it means Wisconsin could have another pipeline that threatens the safety of the communities the pipeline travels through. Twinning it means another pipeline that jeopardizes our tourism economy. Worse, twinning the pipeline means twinning the risk of a pipeline spill.
Different however, is that after a late-night budget amendment expanded eminent domain authority last year, Enbridge could gain the authority to use eminent domain to get the land necessary for this new pipeline. This leaves the door open for Enbridge, a foreign company, to take a Wisconsinite’s land for their private gain. Most likely this oil will be sent to the south and exported. This could mean Wisconsin is forced to take all of the risk of a new pipeline, with little to no reward.