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Could the Bad River get worse? Wisconsin Native tribe says yes.

Attorneys for a Wisconsin Native American tribe are set to argue Thursday that a federal judge should order an energy company to shut down an oil pipeline that the tribe says is at immediate risk of being exposed by erosion and rupturing on reservation land.

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa asked U.S. District Judge William Conley last week to issue an emergency ruling forcing Enbridge to shut down the Line 5 pipeline after large chunks of riverbank running alongside it were washed away by the river in northern Wisconsin.

The tribe says less than 15 feet of land now stands between the Bad River and Line 5 in four locations on the reservation. In some places, more than 20 feet of riverbank has eroded in the past month alone. Experts and environmental advocates have warned in court that an exposed section of pipeline would be weakened and could rupture at any time, causing massive oil spills.

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