Bad River Band and the Limits of Tribal Sovereignty

June 12, 2026

by Jimena Lantigua

            Last December, the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe filed a claim against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following the approval of the Line 5 oil pipeline reroute. The claim alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), with the Tribe arguing that the Corps failed to properly assess the risk that this pipeline will have on the Tribe’s water resources. The Tribe has previously taken Enbridge Energy, Inc., which oversees the pipeline, to court; a federal court has already ruled that Line 5 was illegally trespassing on the reservation. As a result, Enbridge now seeks to reroute the line to go around the reservation; however, it would still run through several important waterways that feed into the reservation. Both environmental activists and Tribal representatives have stated that they consider this project unnecessary, due to the abundance of crude oil in the United States. The Army Corps justified its decision by citing a national energy emergency order by President Trump, which ordered the expediting of energy-related projects. This dispute exemplifies how tribal sovereignty and treaty-based water rights are often undermined by energy infrastructure interests.

More Than a Resource: Water’s Cultural Significance

Water has been central to the Lake Superior Chippewa’s way of life for generations and is considered the most sacred living part of Mother Earth. According to Tribal history, the Tribe’s ancestors followed a prophecy instructing them to travel West until they found a home where the “food grows on water.” Upon reaching the shores of Lake Superior, they encountered an abundance of wild rice and settled there. This wild rice has since become a cultural symbol for the Lake Superior Chippewa. The area is also rich in topsoil due to the rivers flooding periodically, making agriculture possible. Additionally, most people practice subsistence fishing to feed themselves and their families.

Because of the importance of water resources, the Tribe’s leadership monitors and manages them according to their Water Quality Standards, which align with the Clean Water Act. One of these standards states that all water within the Reservation must not contain any unnatural pollutant substances, including oil, that can harm wildlife or human beings. This mirrors Section 402 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1342), which forbids the discharge of any pollutant into navigable waters of the United States without a NPDES permit.

Under Pressure: Sovereignty at Risk

The Bad River Band argues that the construction of Line 5 causes an unreasonable risk that the Tribe’s Water Quality Standards would be violated, particularly the requirement that reservation waters remain free from pollutants. Line 5 transports 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily. Opponents of the project claim that oil would be spilled at each stage of the line’s construction, polluting the water resources of the 40 million people that rely on the Great Lakes.

This is not the first time that Line 5 has been problematic. It was originally built without Tribal consultation in the 1950s. Since then, Enbridge has repeatedly faced legal issues due to several oil spills in the Great Lakes; the company is responsible for the largest oil spill recorded in Wisconsin history, when in 2024, it spilled almost 70,000 gallons of crude oil underground. Line 5 in particular has leaked at least 33 times, discharging over 1.1 million gallons of oil.

Enbridge’s easement, or right of way, through the Bad River Reservation expired in 2013, and the Tribe refused to renew it. However, Enbridge continued to trespass on the reservation. In 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that the company was indeed trespassing and ordered it to cease operations on the sections of Line 5 that run through areas without an easement by June 2026. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that Enbridge was once again trespassing on tribal land. However, the DOJ did not call for an immediate shutdown of Line 5; they instead remanded the case so that a judge could consider competing pipeline and tribal treaties. As of April 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court  has decided that the trial must take place in state courts instead of federal, which could result in a more favorable ruling for the Tribe.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Line 5 dispute highlights broader issues surrounding tribal water rights in the Eastern United States. Historically, water rights in Eastern states have been more relaxed than those in Western states due to the abundance of water in the East. Wisconsin is a regulated riparian jurisdiction, meaning that people who own property adjacent to a water source have the right to use it subject to state regulation. This differs from prior appropriation rights in the Western United States, where water usage rights are based on priority; one must apply for them and prove that the water will be put to a beneficial use. Further, the Winters Doctrine, established by the Supreme Court in 1908, states that when Congress reserves land for a Native American reservation, it must also reserve a sufficient quantity and quality of water for the reservation.

The Bad River Band entered into a treaty with the United States in 1854, far before the competing 1977 Pipeline Treaty between the United States and Canada. However, Wisconsin and other Eastern states do not generally recognize use priority, making these rights less clearly defined and enforced. Despite the abundance of water in Eastern regions, water resources are still highly coveted. Until tribal water rights are better incorporated into Eastern states’ water management regimes, these states may see an uptick in similar cases, especially as the demand for energy infrastructure and natural resources (such as crude oil) grows. The expansion of pipelines such as Line 5 that trample on tribal land will perhaps prompt a change in the way that water rights are managed.

Conclusion

            The case between the Bad River Band and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers demonstrates how economic interests often overlook tribal sovereignty. Although Enbridge has repeatedly been found to be trespassing on tribal land, the pipeline continues to operate and expand. This conflict also highlights a larger issue in water law: Eastern states’ general lack of a formal framework for water use priority makes tribal water rights difficult to enforce, despite federal protections such as the Winters Doctrine. Prioritizing energy corporations’ interests over tribal sovereignty and environmental protection puts water resources at risk, a problem that ultimately affects all Americans.

*Jimena Lantigua was a student researcher at the Institute in the Spring of 2026. She will graduate with a B.S. in Public Health in May 2027.