Native Tribes have been fighting against a propane and heat supplier of the Upper Peninsula for 73 years. This company is responsible for heating our homes and is liable for oil spills in Michigan, endangering tribal land and resources and is considered a time bomb.

Enbridge Inc. is responsible for Line 5, a pipeline that runs from Superior, Wisconsin, through the Straits of Mackinac to Sarnia, Canada. This pipeline transports 540,000 barrels, or approximately 22.68 million gallons, of oil per day. Though this remains economically efficient, it poses major environmental and societal threats.

This pipeline was originally built by the Bechtel Corporation in 1953, the company that also created the Hoover Dam. Enbridge transports different products, crude oil and natural gas. However, those who care about Michigan’s Great Lakes see the danger of this oil spewing into the Straits and poisoning and polluting our fresh water, as one of Enbridge’s pipelines has done previously. In 2010, 21,000 barrels of heavy crude oil were spilled into the Kalamazoo River by one of Enbridge’s pipelines (Line 6B), costing the company millions and causing damage to the people of Kalamazoo.

After 2016, a legally binding agreement between Enbridge and the federal government required Enbridge to pay $110 million to prevent future spills. They were fined $61 million to aid in the clean-up of the Kalamazoo River. This event brought attention to the Line 5 pipeline, raising concerns about its potential spillage and the damage it would cause.

The pipeline runs through the 1836 Treaty of Washington. Involving the Odawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi nations of Native Americans, also known as Anishinaabe. Together, the tribes’ territory covered 13.8 million acres throughout Michigan, which was given to the federal government. This guaranteed that the Anishinaabe reservations would be permanent and their access to natural resources would be unlimited.

Tribal members rely on these waters and consider them to be sacred and strive to protect and honor them; it rewards them with food and travel. Line 5 has already leaked 33 times, discharging more than 1.1 million gallons of oil. To this day, tribal nations from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have come together to peacefully protest their rights and the danger the pipeline poses to their sacred land. All 12 Tribal Nations located in Michigan oppose the continued operation of Line 5. Hear their voices.

Bay Mills Indian Community in Brimley fights a proposed tunnel by Enbridge, going around the pipeline to “secure it” and virtually eliminate risks of spills. This $800-million project, which would begin in late 2026 called “The Enbridge Great Lakes Tunnel Project.” It would run again through the treaty-protected sacred homelands, impacting communities and the environment. If the project gets approved, it could still malfunction.

Possible malfunctions are boats hitting the tunnel, structural wear such as deterioration of the tunnel caused by rust or rot or the pipes freezing and exploding due to the freezing lake in the cold-winter months. If the pipes were to explode under the ice, cleanup would be nearly impossible.

What tribes, their allies and other environmentalists hope Enbridge will do is reroute the pipeline out of the straits. In the Lower Peninsula, many pipelines run under the ground on state land. If this is already being done with pipelines downstate, why can’t Line 5 be rerouted? This would allow the tribes of the Great Lakes to be able to mitigate their constant worry of the potential demolition of their sacred land and resources.

We urge you, as Michiganders, to take grassroots action.