By Judith Davidoff
A
coalition of conservation groups filed suit this morning in Dane County
Circuit Court to force the Department of Natural Resources to prepare
an environmental impact statement before approving a 322-mile crude oil
pipeline in Wisconsin.
The advocates say the Enbridge Energy pipeline project will disturb hundreds of acres of pristine wetlands and forest.
"This
project will carve two huge trenches through 68.6 miles of wetlands and
clear-cut trees and other vegetation from more than 1,200 wetland
acres," Becky Abel, executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands
Association, said in a news release. "If our state natural resource
agency doesn't consider impacts of this extent significant, our
wetlands are really in trouble."
On Nov. 27, the DNR issued
permits for wetlands and river crossings for two petroleum pipelines
that would run from Superior to Delavan.
Brent
Denzin, an attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates, which filed
the lawsuit on behalf of the Wetlands Association, River Alliance of
Wisconsin and the St. Croix Headwaters, said the agency's finding of
"no significant impact" from the proposed project allows it to go
forward without completion of a full environmental impact statement.
"When
you look at the record, the studies needed to adequately address the
environmental impacts have not been done," Denzin said this morning.
The lawsuit is requesting that such a review be done and that any construction be delayed until the court issues its decision.
Erin Celello, spokeswoman for the DNR, said the agency's legal staff is still reviewing the complaints.
"After
that, it will be sent over to the Department of Justice," she said. The
justice department will represent the DNR in the lawsuit, Celello added.
But
Enbridge spokeswoman Denise Hamsher said that the environmental review
process has been "rigorous" and that the DNR has done a "comprehensive
job."
"A very comprehensive environmental assessment has been
done comparable to an environmental impact statement," Hamsher said.
She added that the process has also been very open to public comment.
Hamsher
said the pipeline, which is actually an expansion of two existing
pipelines that cross Wisconsin, is necessary to meet the energy needs
of Wisconsin citizens.
"We are expanding our pipeline to deliver
and meet the demand of refineries in Chicago and beyond for increased
supplies of crude oil," she said. "These are refineries that serve
Wisconsin with jet fuel, gasoline and other refined petroleum products."
Hamsher said the refineries need more crude oil, and the alternative is to get it from overseas.
"They
either get it from foreign countries or we tap growing supplies that
are available from Canada," she said. "To get to this market you can't
truck or train that much so you put them in pipelines."
E-mail: jdavidoff@madison.com
Published: December 21, 2006
