Saxon, WI — Enbridge’s aging Line 5 pipeline is spilling natural gas liquids in northern Wisconsin. The rupture occurred just east of the Bad River Reservation near Lake Superior on August 25, 2026. According to Enbridge, an unoccupied semi truck rolled into an excavation site and struck the pipeline.

The Canadian oil giant faces numerous legal challenges over its operation of Line 5. The 73-year-old pipeline carries oil and natural gas liquids through the heart of the Great Lakes region. Experts warn that it risks rupturing into the world’s largest bodies of freshwater.

Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, originally routed across Bad River Band tribal land under easements dating to 1953, is now being rerouted along a new 41.1-mile corridor through 1854 Treaty Territory in Ashland County, Wis., crossing 186 waterways, 612 acres of wetlands, and hard bedrock across the Penokee-Gogebic Range, the zone of greatest geological uncertainty along the route.

Line 5 alone has had roughly 30 on-land releases, totaling around one million gallons of oil. See our report from May for more information.

Cover image via screenshot from video contributed by Joe Bates.

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See all of Unicorn Riot’s coverage on Enbridge’s Line 5 re-route by clicking the image below.

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