Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. must pay an Indigenous band in Wisconsin more than $5 million US dollars in Line 5 profits and relocate the controversial cross-border pipeline within the next three years, a U.S. judge says. A rupture on territory that belongs to the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa would constitute a clear public nuisance under federal law, district court Judge William Conley said in a decision late last week. But while the order affirms that Enbridge has been trespassing on Bad River land since 2013, when certain permits for the 70-year-old pipeline were allowed to lapse, it stops short of causing “economic havoc” with an immediate shutdown.
The first Native American woman to serve as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will leave her position at the end of next month. An announcement by the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) reported that Janie Simms Hipp (a Chickasaw) will depart from her position at USDA effective July 31st to head up a new financial services organization that will fund Native farmers and ranchers. The announcement comes just over two years after President Biden announced he would nominate Hipp, who was confirmed in July 2021. Those are your headlines at this hour.
I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
