Cancel order to close Line 5, Canada asks US appeals court

Ottawa is urging a U.S. appeals court to overturn a Wisconsin judge’s order that threatens to shut down the Line 5 cross-border pipeline by June 2026.

Forcing a shutdown would violate Canada’s treaty rights, government lawyers argue in an amicus brief filed today with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

In June, a Wisconsin court ruling gave Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. an ultimatum: reroute the pipeline around an Indigenous reservation within three years or shut it down.

Enbridge is planning a 66-kilometer detour to replace the 19-kilometer section that crosses the sovereign territory of the Bad River Band of the Chippewa of Lake Superior.

Both sides are appealing the decision: Enbridge wants more time to complete the rerouting, while the band’s lawyers want the taps permanently turned off.

The band and its environmental allies fear a spill in an ecologically sensitive and flood-prone Lake Superior watershed on the Bad River Reservation.