A section of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline leaked natural gas liquid on Tuesday morning near the town of Saxon. Both the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Enbridge have confirmed the leak with Wisconsin Examiner, drone video of which is circulating social media showing plumes of smoke or mist-like vapor pouring out and covering an area with parked trucks and construction equipment.
The leak was caused when a truck — which Enbridge said was unoccupied — rolled over an open excavation site for a Line 5 valve project, over a natural gas transmission line. The leak occurred in rural Iron County. This section of Line 5 was not carrying crude oil.
Both Enbridge and the DNR said in email statements that no one was injured, though Enbridge stated that nearby rural homes were evacuated as a precaution. The DNR said that the valve project was struck around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, and that Enbridge reported the accident to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's National Response Center at 11:02 a.m. and the DNR spills hotline at 11:15 a.m..
The fire department and Stantec are on site monitoring the air. The line was shut down to prevent further leaks, and the DNR stated work is underway to calculate exactly how much natural gas was released. In a social media post, Iron County Sheriff Paul Samardich said that Sitan Road is closed until further notice, and that a temporary no-fly zone zone has been established in the area. There is also an associated temporary power outage, the sheriff wrote, adding that local residents should "follow instructions from emergency personnel."
Enbridge Line 5 has been at the center of controversy for years. Environmental advocates and tribal communities argue that the decades-old Canadian pipeline perpetuates an over-reliance on fossil fuels in a time when communities need to move towards clean and renewable energy sources. A federal judge ruled that Enbridge was trespassing on the sovereign land of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in 2013, prompting a plan to reroute the pipeline around the reservation, which has also been contested.
The Band and its allies say that the pipeline needs to be shut down as the possibility of oil or gas leaks threaten sensitive ecosystems as well as the Bad River watershed which the tribe and other communities rely on. Supporters of Line 5 and Enbridge say that the company helps maintain American energy supplies and jobs.
Jadine Sonoda, campaign coordinator for Sierra Club of Wisconsin, said that the most recent gas leak is an example of the pipeline's issues. "This is yet another disaster by Enbridge and their Line 5 pipeline," Sonoda said Tuesday in an emailed statement. "Just last week, Enbridge argued in court that our concerns about the damage of the construction of the Line 5 reroute, on the wetlands, waters, and nearby communities were unwarranted. They argued that the project is complicated, but they've got it under control — yet days later, people are being evacuated from their homes due to poisonous natural gas in the air."
Sonoda asked, "How many more disasters will it take for Wisconsin leaders to put a stop to this? How many many people will be harmed before our state regulators finally hold this massive corporate polluter accountable? We want to thank the monitors who alerted people to this right away, and the first responders who are helping people to safety."
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