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    20240227line5 Tribal Biden Letter

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    Brandon Chew
    The letter requests that President Biden weigh in to support tribal sovereignty in the case of Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. Enbridge has operated an oil pipeline illegally on Bad River tribal lands for over a decade. The letter urges the United States to reject Enbridge and Canada's argument that a treaty prohibits any action to stop cross-border pipelines, which would undermine tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Numerous tribal nations signed to emphasize the importance of the issue for indigenous communities throughout the Great Lakes region.

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    20240227line5 Tribal Biden Letter

    Uploaded by

    Brandon Chew
    5K views9 pages
    The letter requests that President Biden weigh in to support tribal sovereignty in the case of Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. Enbridge has operated an oil pipeline illegally on Bad River tribal lands for over a decade. The letter urges the United States to reject Enbridge and Canada's argument that a treaty prohibits any action to stop cross-border pipelines, which would undermine tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Numerous tribal nations signed to emphasize the importance of the issue for indigenous communities throughout the Great Lakes region.

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    20240227line5 Tribal Biden Letter

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    The letter requests that President Biden weigh in to support tribal sovereignty in the case of Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. Enbridge has operated an oil pipeline illegally on Bad River tribal lands for over a decade. The letter urges the United States to reject Enbridge and Canada's argument that a treaty prohibits any action to stop cross-border pipelines, which would undermine tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Numerous tribal nations signed to emphasize the importance of the issue for indigenous communities throughout the Great Lakes region.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    5K views9 pages

    20240227line5 Tribal Biden Letter

    Uploaded by

    Brandon Chew
    The letter requests that President Biden weigh in to support tribal sovereignty in the case of Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. Enbridge has operated an oil pipeline illegally on Bad River tribal lands for over a decade. The letter urges the United States to reject Enbridge and Canada's argument that a treaty prohibits any action to stop cross-border pipelines, which would undermine tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Numerous tribal nations signed to emphasize the importance of the issue for indigenous communities throughout the Great Lakes region.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 9

    February 27, 2024

    President Joseph R. Biden


    The White House
    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
    Washington, DC 20500

    Re: Seventh Circuit Request to the United States for its Views Regarding the Transit
    Pipeline Treaty and Tribal Sovereignty in Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe
    of Chippewa Indians v. Enbridge Energy Company, Inc.

    Dear President Biden,

    On December 12, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
    requested the United States submit its views in a case squarely implicating your Administration’s
    commitment to Tribal sovereignty, Tribal treaty rights, the protection of our Nation’s precious
    waterways, and the transition away from a fossil fuel economy. Despite this request being made
    over two months ago and oral argument having been held on February 8, 2024, the United States
    has yet to substantively respond to the Circuit Court. The undersigned Tribal Leaders, who
    represent Tribal Nations across Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin respectfully urge your
    Administration to weigh in forcefully in support of our sovereignty and way of life.

    As explained in the attached letter from Bad River Band and Bay Mills Indian
    Community, for over a decade, Enbridge Inc., a Canadian pipeline company, has illegally
    pumped petroleum products across the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin through a
    pipeline known as Line 5, which transports oil and natural gas produced in western Canada
    principally to its terminal point in Sarnia, Ontario. Enbridge has continued to do so despite the
    2013 expiration of the easements it held to cross the Reservation, the Bad River Band’s repeated
    requests that it leave, and the uniquely high risk of a rupture where Line 5 crosses and lies
    directly within the Bad River’s natural migration. If such a rupture were to occur, nearly one

    1
    million gallons of oil would spill into the river, flowing into Lake Superior and devasting the
    wild rice beds and fishing populations central to the Band’s way of life.

    Last June, a federal district court held that Enbridge has knowingly trespassed on the Bad
    River Reservation since 2013 and is creating a public nuisance at the river crossing, and it
    ordered Enbridge to cease operating Line 5 on the Reservation by June 2026. Although the
    district court gave Enbridge three more years to operate its pipeline in violation of the Band’s
    sovereignty, Enbridge appealed the ruling to the Seventh Circuit and argued that it must be
    allowed to trespass indefinitely. Specifically, Enbridge has argued that the 1977 Transit Pipeline
    Treaty between the United States and Canada prohibits any State, Tribal Nation, or arm of the
    Federal Government, including a Federal court, from taking any action that would impede the
    flow of oil through a cross-border pipeline. Canada has vociferously supported Enbridge
    throughout the litigation, including through the filing of an amicus curiae brief in the Seventh
    Circuit endorsing Enbridge’s radical interpretation of the Transit Treaty. The Seventh Circuit has
    asked the United States to file an amicus brief with its views on the Transit Treaty and any other
    issues in the case it wishes to discuss. If the court adopts Enbridge’s and Canada’s interpretation
    of the Transit Treaty while the United States remains silent, the decision will fundamentally
    undermine bedrock principles of Tribal sovereignty for all Tribal Nations throughout the United
    States. The Bad River Band should not be left to wage an existential fight against Enbridge and
    Canada while its trustee and treaty partner, the United States, remains on the sidelines.

    Tribal Nations are separate sovereign governments that exercise inherent sovereign
    authority. One aspect of the inherent sovereign authority that Tribal Nations have retained is
    their absolute right and power to exclude non-Indians from, condition non-Indians’ entry on, and
    expel trespassing non-Indians from Tribal lands. This right is a core aspect of Tribal sovereignty
    and has been repeatedly affirmed by the United States Supreme Court for over two centuries.
    Moreover, many Tribal Nations, like the Bad River Band, have entered into treaties with the
    United States guaranteeing them permanent homelands and reserving for them the right to
    exclude non-Indians from their homelands. These treaties are the supreme law of the land.

    If the Seventh Circuit does not hear from the United States, and it adopts Enbridge and
    Canada’s interpretation of the Transit Treaty, that would have devastating consequences for
    Tribal Nations and Tribal sovereignty. Multiple federal statutes categorically protect Tribal land
    from condemnation, and that protection has been critical to preserving what remains of Tribal
    land bases. But Enbridge and Canada’s preferred interpretation of the Transit Treaty would
    effectively grant condemnation power to transit pipeline companies by allowing them to trespass
    indefinitely without regard for Tribal sovereignty. Enbridge and Canada’s interpretation of the
    Transit Treaty attempts to abrogate Tribal treaties and undermine Tribal Nations’ most
    fundamental sovereign obligations to provide for the health, welfare, and security of their Tribal
    members. And their arguments, if wrongly accepted, would impair the ability of the United
    States, as trustee, to remove trespassing transit pipelines from lands held in trust for Tribal
    Nations.

    Enbridge and Canada’s interpretation not only aims to eviscerate Tribal Nations’ inherent
    sovereign authority to protect and manage their lands and resources, but also would do the same
    for the Federal Government and every State and private landowner along the Canadian border

    2
    with a cross-border pipeline traversing its lands. Any effort to enforce the property rights of a
    State, Tribal Nation, local government, or private party would be forbidden. This radical
    interpretation of the Transit Treaty would even prevent Tribal Nations, as well as the Federal
    Government, States, and private individuals from refusing to have their lands used in the
    rerouting of cross-border pipelines.

    The United States’ silence on this issue, in the face of the Seventh Circuit’s request and
    Canada’s vociferous support of Enbridge, is deeply concerning. By remaining silent and not
    forcefully refuting Enbridge’s and Canada’s radical interpretation of the Transit Treaty, the
    United States is abdicating its trust responsibility to the Bad River Band and to all Tribal
    Nations, in favor of a foreign country and foreign corporation. This issue is of great significance
    to all Tribal Nations in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, transversed, as our region is, with
    numerous cross-border pipelines. We are all keenly watching to see what the United States will
    do.

    We urge your Administration to voice its unequivocal support for the Bad River Band
    and more generally for Tribal rights, the rule of law, and the protection of some of our Nation’s
    most precious waterways.

    Chi miigwetch (thank you),

    Robert Blanchard, Chairman Whitney B. Gravelle, President


    Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Bay Mills Indian Community

    Jon Greendeer, President Regina Gasco, Chairperson


    Ho-Chunk Nation Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians

    Nicole Boyd, Chairwoman Jamie Stuck, Chairman


    Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi
    Indians
    Bob Peters, Chairman
    James Crawford, Chairman Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of
    Forest County Potawatomi Pottawatomi Indians

    John Johnson, President David Arroyo, Chairman


    Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa &
    Chippewa Indians Chippewa Indians

    Shannon Holsey, President Doreen Blaker, President


    Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans Keweenaw Bay Indian Community

    Thomas Fowler, Chairman Jim Williams, Chairman


    St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin Lac Vieux Desert Band of Chippewa Indians

    3
    Ken Meshigaud, Chairman Rebecca Richards, Chairwoman
    Hannahville Indian Community Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

    Austin Lowes, Chairman Tim J. Davis, Tribal Chief


    Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe

    Faron Jackson, Sr., Chairman Robert VanZile, Jr., Chairman


    Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Sokaogon Chippewa Community

    Michael Fairbanks, Chairman Kevin DuPuis, Sr., Chairperson


    White Earth Reservation Business Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior
    Committee Chippewa

    Larry Romanelli, Ogema and Tammy Cathy Chavers, Chairwoman


    Burmeister, Tribal Council Speaker Bois Forte Band of Chippewa
    Little River Band of Odawa Indians
    Melanie Benjamin, Chairwoman
    Darrell G. Seki, Sr., Chairman Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
    Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
    Phyllis Tousey, Chairwoman
    Robert Larsen, President Brothertown Indian Nation
    Lower Sioux Indian Community
    Gena Kakkak, Chairwoman
    Robert Deschampe, Chairman Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
    Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior
    Chippewa

    CC: Secretary Antony Blinken


    Department of State

    Secretary Deb Haaland


    Department of the Interior

    Brenda Mallory, Chair


    White House, Council on Environmental Quality

    John Podesta, Senior Advisor


    White House, Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation

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