1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 You 2 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:43,000 The Canadian oil and gas pipeline the Enbridge Line 5 coursing through native lands in northern Wisconsin has been shut down temporarily due to elite discovered last week. 3 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:50,000 The very eventuality tribal nations have been sounding the alarm over in public and in court. 4 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:58,000 There is always just the environmental concern the structural concern you know and it's come to 5 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:06,000 it's come to light now that they have made you know that they're susceptible to you know to 6 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:29,000 really really really sloppy work and and so our hope my hope from from our organization standpoint is that they take time to refocus maybe so that there would be no no more accidents like what we what we've experienced. 7 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:36,000 But tribal nations are not alone in their concerns over Line 5 with its reroute around Bad Riverlands. 8 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:49,000 The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources called to halt work on the project after a construction truck ruptured the line causing more than a million gallons of propane and butane to release into the atmosphere. 9 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:59,000 For its part Enbridge says there was a project wide safety stand down for construction workers during which project leadership reinforced safety protocols. 10 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:06,000 DNR Secretary Karen Hyun is here with latest details and thanks very much for being here. 11 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,000 Thanks Frederica it's nice to be with you. 12 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:16,000 So you called on Enbridge to halt work on the reroute construction and yet according to the company that work has already resumed. 13 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,000 What is your response to that. 14 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:30,000 Yeah there are two separate issues here just to want to clarify. One is that there is a active incident happening around Saxon Wisconsin. 15 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:42,000 We are still waiting to gain access to that site so that site and the safety of that site is controlled by a PHINSA which is the pipeline and hazardous material safety administration it's the lead agency at the site. 16 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:55,000 We haven't had been authorized to access that site, but we're continuing to monitor the situation as it develops and we'll be ready to be on site as soon as we can to evaluate the impacts. 17 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,000 We actually don't regulate the safety and operations of the line five pipeline itself. 18 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Our authority is over this part of the situation is around the discharge of the liquid by natural gas that's being discharged into the environment. 19 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Very seriously, and we've been talking to Enbridge continually about when we can gain access. 20 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:31,000 And we'll be making sure that once it's safe to access this site that we will be looking at the will be working with Enbridge as a responsible party to make sure that the impacts to air and water and land will be remediated. 21 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,000 There's also the issue of the relocation that I think you mentioned earlier. 22 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:50,000 There have been several issues of non compliance that have happened where there have been drilling fluid that's leaked in the process of their horizontal drilling under some of the waterways as they reroute the pipeline around the that river reservation. 23 00:03:50,000 --> 00:04:08,000 I heard the concerns from Glyphwick and other tribal nations and we share those concerns over those recent incidents as well, which is why we asked for a stand down and we continue to have robust dialogue with Enbridge about how they can increase their safety and environmental compliance 24 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,000 and compliance with the permits that we've issued. 25 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:25,000 Yeah, in fact, you wrote a letter to Enbridge saying that you are deeply concerned about the latest spill and immensely frustrated by other recent non compliant events and that you want the company to demonstrate that measures are in place to prevent future spills. 26 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Has the company demonstrated that? 27 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 We continue to have ongoing discussions with senior leadership at Enbridge. 28 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:49,000 There were non compliance events in the past few months, and there continue to be some non compliance events, even after the safety stand down. So we're continuing to discuss with them what they can do to increase their compliance with the permits and reduce these 29 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,000 breakout events. 30 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,000 How dangerous was this latest leak? 31 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:03,000 The Saxon spill was, I think it's hard for us to assess what the actual damages are. 32 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:13,000 There have been barrels of liquefied natural gas that have evaporated into the atmosphere and volatilize into the atmosphere, which we have concerns about. 33 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:21,000 We so until we can get into the site, it's hard for us to assess what the damage is to the air and the land and the waters of the state. 34 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 What are some of the potential concerns do you have going forward? 35 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Well, first and foremost, I want to make sure that our staff and other members that are entering into the site are safe. So we have to make sure that we're following pins the guidelines and authority in terms of accessing the site. 36 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Once we're able to get in, we're going to look at impacts to the air, to the groundwater, to the surface water, to the soil, to the sediments, and see how they might be impacted by the liquefied natural gas. 37 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:58,000 The water response per party will be taking measurements and we'll be able to analyze that data and see what kind of damages we might need to assess. 38 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:08,000 How do you feel about the DNR's role in granting permits for this project in light of your current deep concerns? 39 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:19,000 We have statutory authority to issue permits for things like stormwater, waterways, wetlands, and other things, but those are the main ones for this. 40 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:26,000 We issue those permits with a lot of collaboration and public input and tribal input over time. 41 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:37,000 We are going to hold Enbridge accountable to the non-compliance events, particularly the frackouts that have been happening, and we want to see improvements as construction continues on the pipeline. 42 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:46,000 Meanwhile, Enbridge helps to restore service to the pipeline that carries 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas by next week. 43 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:53,000 What does your comfort with that at this point? 44 00:06:53,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Yeah, as I understand it, because of the actual spill in Saxon, which is different than the non-compliance events I was talking about earlier, they have stopped shipping product across through the pipeline that goes to different refineries and places across the Midwest. 45 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:17,000 I understand the importance of being able to provide that energy source to other places and other states and even to Canada. 46 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:27,000 But we need to make sure that in that process accidents like this spill, which are really serious, are taken seriously and cleaned up to remediate the environment. 47 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:28,000 All right. 48 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:29,000 We leave it there. 49 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,000 Secretary Karen Hyun, thank you so much. 50 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:33,000 Thank you. 51 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:39,000 We really appreciate you joining us on this. 52 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:46,000 I know it's, you know, it's difficult stuff and you haven't been allowed in yet and all of that. 53 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,000 So thank you. 54 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:48,000 You're welcome. 55 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,000 Thank you for covering it. 56 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Take care. 57 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Bye.