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Treaty rights acknowledged for first time in oil pipeline's controversial history


© Photo by Whitney Gravelle
Michigan s Indigenous communities hold long-standing legal right to protect lands and waters.
On any given day, Jacques LeBlanc Jr. spends as many as 14 hours on the water catching whitefish. Out on his boat by the time the sun breaks the horizon over the Great Lakes, he moves between Michigan, Huron, and Superior for the best spots. In this part of northern Michigan, at the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula, fishing is a staple of LeBlanc’s Bay Mills Indian Community, one of the Sault Ste. Marie bands of Chippewa.
Fishing on the Great Lakes is no easy task. It is threatened by the changing climate, disturbed by invasive species, and overrun by unruly weather to daily operation costs. But just south of LeBlanc’s tribal community lies another impediment that endangers his way of life. It is Line 5, the twin petroleum pipelines that run underwater for five miles across the Straits of Mackinac. ....

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