The transition from carbon intensive forms of energy to more sustainable forms is increasing across the United States and the world. With this change, the Wisconsin Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change made a proposition to avoid all new fossil fuel investments. We call on Governor Evers, the Task Force on Climate Change, and all other decision makers to follow through with this commitment and shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 re-route in Wisconsin and deny Dairyland Power Cooperative’s proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center gas plant in Superior, Wisconsin.
In December 2020, Governor Tony Evers’ Task Force on Climate Change issued a report on proposed plans to address challenges across the state of Wisconsin that have been brought on by climate change.
One of the task force’s proposed solutions to address these challenges across Wisconsin is to avoid all new fossil fuel investments. Specifically, they say,
“Wisconsin cannot take meaningful climate action without bold action to reduce the use of fossil fuels and pivot to renewable energy. To stay within the Paris Agreement climate goals, we cannot build any new fossil fuel infrastructure, including infrastructure for the production and transportation of fossil fuels, such as wells, refineries, pipelines, and shipping terminals … Any expansion of fossil fuel energy production will add to the inequitable burden on low-income communities and communities of color, both urban and rural.”
Following through with this commitment requires the task force to deny Enbridge’s proposal to re-route one of its pipelines, Line 5, and deny Dairyland Power Co-op’s proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center gas plant. Line 5 is a tar sands pipeline that runs from Superior, Wisconsin through the Straits of Mackinac to Sarnia, Michigan. Currently, Enbrdige is proposing to re-route Line 5 around the Bad River Reservation, where the pipeline currently cuts through. Additionally, the Dairyland Power Co-op’s proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center gas plant would process fossil gas, a fossil fuel, on the edge of the Nemadji River in Superior, Wisconsin.
Line 5 has to go. It violates an 1854 treaty made between the Bad River Band and the U.S. government that gave the tribe rights to protect the land, and it poses a severe risk to the tribe’s water supply and ability to sustain themselves through harvesting rice fields and maintaining fish hatcheries. Rerouting Line 5 would be just as damaging, as Enbridge plans to relocate 41 miles of the pipeline through Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron Counties in Wisconsin. Not only would this leave these communities at a higher risk of oil spills, but the Band River Band would also still be at risk because the rerouted pipeline would edge their land, thereby posing risk to oil contaminating their watershed. The re-route goes through ceded territory, and would still violate the tribe’s rights to fish, hunt, and gather on that land, as well as potentially impact community members and wildlife’s health and well-being.
Additionally, approving Dairyland Power Co-op’s proposal to build a gas plant would fail to meet the Climate Task Force's goal to avoid new fossil fuel investments as well as put Wisconsinites’ health at risk. Fossil gas and other fossil fuels are old news. Wisconsin leaders cannot allow Dairyland Power to move forward with its proposal.
Our decision makers cannot turn a blind eye to Line 5. They must do this to prioritize and protect the lives of Indigenous communities and follow through with their commitment to advocate for people of color in Wisconsin. And we must hold them accountable to follow through with this commitment.
Decision makers of all kinds -- from Governor Evers and the Task Force to the Department of Natural Resources -- must incorporate denying Dairyland Power Co-op’s proposal to build the Nemadji Trail Energy Center gas plant in Superior, Wisconsin, as well as stopping the Line 5 re-route and shutting down Line 5 in its plans to avoid fossil fuel investments.
Around the state, people are writing into their local newspapers and calling for no new fossil fuel infrastructure. Read their letters here:
4/9 Sister Rose Marie Dischler: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/letters/dischler-avoid-new-fossil-fuel-infrastructure/article_859c3d13-5627-53ca-85e8-efc3bb4f85ee.html
4/20 Erik Pettersen: https://madison.com/ct/opinion/mailbag/erik-pettersen-time-to-dump-fossil-fuels/article_de69fa16-ff58-516a-9e15-16baa5722205.html
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Written by Alex Garner, Sierra Club and 350 Madison Tar Sands Team member.