The Enbridge Line 5 pipeline is the subject of public hearings as the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa challenges construction permits for a reroute — Bad River Band Chairman Robert Blanchard described what’s at stake as did Jennifer Smith, the company’s director for tribal engagement U.S.. Toxic political rhetoric floods the internet and young people have grown up on it — BridgeEauClaire is a civil discourse club that encourages engaging across political divides, explains its faculty advisor, UW-Eau Claire professor Adam Kunz.
 

Chairman Robert Blanchard
Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

• Contested case hearings are being held across the state as the Bad River Band challenges the construction permits issued to Enbridge by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for a reroute of its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline around reservation lands in northern Wisconsin. Blanchard said the pipeline would still go through ceded territory where tribal members want to protect the waterways and wetlands from environmental threats.
• Blanchard: “We’ve been harvesting wild rice in the Sokaogon Streus for over 100 years. My grandparents harvested down there, and they made rice camps down there. And so that’s near and dear to my heart and a lot of other people also, but it identifies us as people. You know, we were brought here for a reason and one of the reasons is to go where the food grows on the water — and that was the wild rice — and that is quite dear to us. As far as other things — hunting, fishing and gathering — you know, there’s a lot of people today that use that resource to provide and put food on the table for their families, so it’s very important to us.”

Jennifer Smith
Director Tribal Engagement U.S., Enbridge

• The Bad River Band sued to remove existing stretches of the Line 5 pipeline from its lands after easements expired. Enbridge subsequently proposed rerouting 41 miles to run outside the reservation. The tribe challenged the new route after the Wisconsin DNR issued Enbridge construction permits for the reroute to proceed. Both the tribal government and the Canada-based company provided testimony in a series of court-ordered public hearings held in Ashland and Madison. Ahead of issuing construction permits, Smith said the DNR conducted extensive environmental study and pointed out the role of Line 5 to regional energy supplies.
• Smith: “Line 5 is critical for supplying the energy that our Midwest Great Lakes regions all rely on. Millions of us every day are using the end products that Line 5 that’s transporting to 10 different refineries. It’s providing natural gas liquids to other companies that will extract the propane and deliver it to the homes throughout the region. And so we have a responsibility to make sure that we can continue to safely deliver that energy that we’re all relying on and. We proposed this project almost five years ago over four years and initiated the project permits because this is in response to the Bad River Band’s request that we remove line five from the reservation which it currently crosses.”

Adam Kunz
Professor, UW-Eau Claire Political Science and Criminal Justice Department, and faculty advisor, BridgeUWEC

• Political discourse – especially online – has been beyond toxic. A club for students at UW-Eau Claire invites civil discussion on polarizing topics. Kunz described BridgeEauClaire — which is an affiliate of BridgeUSA — as an “anti-debate club” because students involved are not trying to win an argument but instead seek to have a conversation to discuss and understand people with very different political viewpoints.
• Kunz: “I’ve been teaching for about 10 years in different capacities, and I’ve watched as the Gen Z population has started to mature, and it’s interesting. We’re about three years away from having our first Gen Alpha student in a college, which makes me feel so old, but the the Gen z students are absolutely looking for ways to connect. But there’s this feeling among them that they don’t really know how to connect. There’s this kind of Catch-22. They want a social situation, but they’re so used to being targeted or trolled online, they’re scared to be able to express their opinions. And so clubs like Bridge are a great way for them to learn those social skills in a real way, and to do so in a closed environment where they don’t feel like they’re going to get piled on, or misunderstood, or have something screenshotted and taken out of context.”

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