Iron County and Enbridge close to a deal.

SAXON – Iron County is getting a seven-figure payday after the Iron County Board of Supervisors approved an easement agreement with Enbridge Inc. for use of the land the company needs for a potential reroute of its Line 5 pipeline Tuesday.    The deal will have the company pay Iron County $1.5 million for the easement on the property, along with a $51,790 road-access fee, for a total of $1,55 million dollars. That’s in addition to the more than half million dollars Iron County received last fall from Enbridge for an option agreement that allowed the company to purchase the option in Tuesday’s deal.  The easement is necessary for a potential reroute of the company’s pipeline through the towns of Saxon and Gurney in northern Iron County to bypass tribal land owned by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.  The project isn’t a done deal yet, according to company representatives, but the necessary permits have already been submitted and are being reviewed and the clearing of timber and early site work could start as early as February.