There was one new resolution submitted during the 03/02/2022 Common Council meeting. Alderpersons Vered Meltzer (District 2), Alex Schultz (District 9), and Nate Wolff (District 12) are sponsoring Resolution #4-R-22 – Resolution On Clean Water And Treaty Rights.
A company called Enbridge, Inc runs a number of oil and gas pipelines including Line 3 which runs between Superior, WI and Hardisty, Alberta and Line 5 which runs between Superior, WI and Sarnia, Ontario. Line 3 was commissioned in 1968 and Line 5 was commissioned in 1953. It looks like Enbridge has planned some kind of projects related to these lines that would update, and in some cases, reroute them.
If passed as written, this resolution would…
- “support the rights of the Anishinaabe to hunt, fish and gather established by treaties, including their actions to protect the land and waters of the Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds on which those rights are practiced, by opposing the construction of Enbridge Lines 3 and 5”
- “call on all residents of Appleton to raise awareness about this important struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice by learning from Indigenous leaders, Native organizations and other organizations such as stopline3.org,narf.org, oilandwaterdontmix.org and to support water protection efforts in any way they can”
- “call upon the Wisconsin DNR to reject Enbridge’s permit application for the construction of Line 5 across so many vulnerable environmental and cultural areas in Northern Wisconsin”
- “call upon every elected leader at the local, state and federal level with the authority to stop the construction of Lines 3 and 5 to do so immediately,” and
- “recommend that the city of Appleton reject any request for mutual aid by Enbridge Inc. for the purpose of constructing and operating Lines 3 and 5.”
Resolution 3-R-22 is similar to a resolution that was passed unanimously by the City of Madison’s Common Council in July of 2021 and a resolution that was rejected with an 8-1 vote by the City of Green Bay’s Common Council in October of 2021.
The resolution’s introduction in Appleton coincides with the publishing of an opinion column by Outagamie County Executive and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Tom Nelson opposing Line 5.
Enbridge has a website explaining more about the projects.
- Line 3: https://www.enbridge.com/Line3
- Line 5: https://www.enbridge.com/Line5
You can read about the concerns some hold regarding these pipelines here: https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/
Because there was not a clear committee of jurisdiction based on the text of the resolution, Mayor Woodford said that the resolution would be referred to a special session of the Common Council so that the Council could convene as a Committee of the Whole to discuss and vote on it. That special session will be scheduled sometime within the next 30 days.
View full Common Council meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=917289&GUID=F5BEDE1F-D3C9-46E1-821D-098B623EC5B1
Note: The screenshot lists it as “3-R-22” but I did confirm with Clerk Lynch that it’s actually 4-R-22.
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