Journalist Arrested While Documenting Legally Contested Enbridge Line 5 Construction
Ashland County, WI – Police arrested video journalist and Unicorn Riot contributor River Akemann while he was documenting Enbridge Line 5 construction on August 24. He was monitoring fish in a creek where Enbridge lacks necessary authorization to install its pipeline. He received four misdemeanor charges and was released later that day. The charges include disorderly conduct, trespassing, unlawful assembly, and resisting arrest.
Canadian oil giant Enbridge has a secretive deal with Ashland County to reimburse the sheriff’s department to act as private security. Enbridge is paying police using the Wisconsin Counties Association, a lobbying group, as the pass through. The Association is not subject to state open records laws. The public won’t know how much Enbridge is paying law enforcement or how the money is being spent.
Multiple groups are suing Canadian oil giant Enbridge for proceeding with Line 5 construction without required property interests at 49 water crossings. Plaintiffs include the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and multiple environmental organizations.
On August 14 and 17, water protectors waded in a stream where Enbridge was trenching without necessary authorization. The group held a prayerful presence in the stream and stopped construction for multiple hours. Four individuals received citations for allegedly violating an Ashland County trespassing ordinance with fines totaling $1,500. Public trust law protects access to navigable waterways in the United States.
Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline transports 22 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids each day through the Great Lakes region. The pipeline is 73 years old, operating 20 years beyond its engineered lifespan. Enbridge is pushing to complete a 41-mile Line 5 reroute around the Bad River Reservation in Northern Wisconsin, despite numerous legal challenges.
On August 25, the older Line 5 ruptured in Saxon, WI, releasing natural gas liquids. According to Enbridge, a parked, unoccupied semi truck rolled into an excavation site and struck the pipeline. The spill occurred two miles east of the Bad River Reservation and five miles south of Lake Superior. Line 5 is currently shut down because of the spill.
Enbridge Line 5 Spills Natural Gas Liquids in Northern Wisconsin
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and the DNR have asked Enbridge to stop work on the 41-mile reroute while the agency investigates the spill. DNR Secretary Kathryn Hyun said the agency is “immensely frustrated” by Enbridge’s lack of transparency regarding the spill and other recent noncompliance events.
In 2019, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued Enbridge for illegal trespassing and demanded Enbridge leave their watershed. Several of Enbridge’s easements had expired in 2013, and the Bad River Band refused to renew them, citing the risk of tremendous environmental damage from potential crude oil spills. Enbridge is now rerouting the pipeline directly around the reservation despite objections from the Band. The reroute cuts through hundreds of waterways that flow into the tribe’s extensive coastal wild rice beds. The Bad River Band and environmental groups are suing to stop construction.
The aging Line 5 runs along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac for four miles, and experts warn that the pipeline is at risk of a catastrophic rupture into the Great Lakes.
Cover image contributed by River Akemann.
Past coverage of Line 5:
Enbridge Line 5 Spills Natural Gas Liquids in Northern Wisconsin [Aug. 2026]
Line 5 Pipeline Reroute Endangers Maple Trees and Native Lifeways [May 2026]
Enbridge’s Line 5 Reroute Blasts Through Bedrock Without Permits, Threatening the Great Lakes [May 2026]
Indigenous Leaders Demand Halt to Enbridge Line 5 Reroute Construction in Wisconsin [April 2026]
Anishinaabe Leaders Raise Alarms About Enbridge’s Covert Line 5 Police Deals in Wisconsin [March 2026]
Protests Against Line 5 Continue in Wisconsin and the Courtrooms [Oct. 2023]
Enbridge Ordered to Shutdown Line 5 and Pay Bad River Band $5.1M [July 2023]
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