MADISON, Wis. — Enbridge’s controversial plan to reroute an aging pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation moved closer to reality Thursday after the company secured its first permits from state regulators. State.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials announced they have issued construction permits for the rerouting of Line 5 around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation. The energy company still needs discharge permits from the DNR as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The project aroused strong opposition. The tribe wants the pipeline removed from its land, but tribal members and environmentalists argue that diverting the work would damage the area’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.

The DNR issued the building permits with more than 200 conditions. The company must complete the project by November 14, 2027, hire DNR-approved environmental monitors and allow DNR employees access to the site during reasonable hours.

The company must also notify the agency within 24 hours of any permit violations or releases of hazardous materials affecting wetlands or waterways; may not discharge any drilling mud into wetlands, watercourses or sensitive areas; keep spill response equipment at workspace entry and exit points; and monitor the introduction and spread of invasive plant species.

Enbridge officials released a statement welcoming the approval, calling it a “major step” toward construction that will maintain a reliable supply of energy to Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region.

Bad River Tribe officials warned in their own statement Thursday that the project would require blasting, drilling and trenching that would devastate the region’s wetlands and waterways and endanger wild rice fields. of the tribe. The tribe noted that investigations identified water quality violations and three aquifer breaches related to the construction of the Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota.

“I am angry that the DNR approved a half-baked plan that promises to be disastrous for our homeland and our way of life,” Bad River Chairman Robert Blanchard said in the release. “We will continue to sound the alarm to prevent another Enbridge pipeline from endangering our watershed. »

Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons (approximately 87 million liters) of oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. About 12 miles of the pipeline crosses the Bad River Reservation.

The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the pipeline from the reservation, arguing that the 71-year-old line is prone to a catastrophic spill and that land easements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation have expired in 2013.

Enbridge has proposed a 41-mile (66-kilometer) detour around the reservation’s southern border.

The company only has about two years to complete the project. U.S. District Judge William Conley last year ordered Enbridge to shut down the portion of the pipeline running through the reservation within three years and pay the tribe more than $5 million for trespassing. An appeal by Enbridge is pending in a federal appeals court in Chicago.

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit in 2019 seeking to close two portions of Line 5 that run under the Straits of Mackinac, the narrow waterways that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel argued that anchor strikes could rupture the line, leading to a devastating spill. That lawsuit is still pending before a federal appeals court.

Michigan regulators in December approved the company’s $500 million plan to enclose the section of the pipeline under the strait in a tunnel to mitigate risks. The plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.