WASHINGTON—A U.S. judge has ordered Enbridge Inc. to pay an indigenous band in Wisconsin US$5.1 million and to remove the Line 5 pipeline from its property within three years.
The decision late Friday by district court Judge William Conley stops short of immediately shutting down the controversial cross-border oil and gas line.
Conley says a rupture of Line 5 on territory that belongs to the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa would clearly constitute a public nuisance under federal law.
And he 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….