Writer: Line 5 pipeline should be relocated

Corey Gall

President, Wisconsin Pipe Trades Association Milwaukee

Hard data make it clear pipelines are unquestionably the safest and most efficient way to transport the energy we all need to live our lives. However, this fact is not some happy accident. Behind the data are the hardworking, highly-skilled men and women who work on pipelines – including the welders of the Wisconsin Pipe Trades Association.

I recently participated in the Safest Way Tour, which held stops across the state to inform Wisconsinites about the importance of energy pipelines, including Enbridge’s Line 5. At each stop on the tour, representatives from diverse organizations including labor unions, business groups and farmers spoke about the value of our state’s energy pipeline network and the need to keep Line 5 operating by moving forward with the proposed relocation project. Line 5, which runs through the northern part of our state, helps ensure we have an adequate supply of gas, diesel and propane throughout the upper Midwest. The Line 5 relocation project will not only keep this important energy flowing; it will also create 700 union construction jobs that pay family sustaining wages and benefits. And, despite what some say, these aren’t temporary jobs. Our pipeline welders spend years training to become experts and go from job to job, just as a doctor goes from patient to patient or an attorney goes from client to client.

It's time for the Wisconsin DNR to approve the Line 5 relocation project and keep moving energy in the safest way possible!