Kyle Davidson
Michigan Advance
Environmental advocates on Aug. 26 delivered several boxes full of letters to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office asking her to take a public stance as state regulators mull permits necessary for Canadian pipeline company Enbridge to move forward with its Line 5 tunnel project.
“Every one of these letters being delivered today were written with clear purpose, with love for the Great Lakes and with the hope that at long last, we will be the ones to influence decision making on behalf of the next seven generations,” said Nichole Keway Biber, the Mid-Michigan campaign organizer for Clean Water Action and a Tribal citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
The Line 5 pipeline stretches for 645 miles across Michigan, beginning in northwest Wisconsin and ending in Sarnia, Ontario. Included in that stretch is a 4.5 mile segment of two separate pipelines located on the lakebed in the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet.
Tribal nations and environmental advocates have long called for the pipeline’s shut down, pointing to the 2010 Kalamazoo River Oil Spill, where Enbridge’s 6B pipeline ruptured, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the waterway.
Gaps in the pipeline’s protective coating were identified in 2014, and the pipeline has been struck by anchors twice since 2018, resulting in three dents in the dual pipelines and damage to one of the pipeline’s supports. In late 2018, the state and Enbridge announced an agreement for the pipeline company to replace the dual pipelines with a new segment housed in a concrete line tunnel buried in the bedrock beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
In order to move forward with the project, the company needs to secure permits from the Michigan Public Service Commission, the Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
However, Indigenous activists and environmental advocates have remained opposed to the pipeline project, arguing the tunnel’s design carries risk for explosion, while the tunnel’s construction carries its own environmental harms.
With the Michigan Public Service Commission giving the project its approval, and President Donald Trump’s Administration working to fast track permit approval through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Line 5 opponents are looking at Enbridge’s required redo of its water resources permit as one of the last chances to block the tunnel project and secure a shutdown of the pipeline.
Public comment on the permits opened on July 17, with the department accepting comments through Aug. 29.
As EGLE continues to hear input from the public, Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for the anti Line 5 Oil and Water Don’t Mix coalition said the department has a responsibility under Michigan Law to look at the environmental impact of the tunnel project.
In order to approve a permit under the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act, there needs to be minimal impact to the surrounding environment McBrearty said. Based on the findings of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s draft environmental impact statement, the department has all the teeth it needs to deny the permit, McBrearty said.
He also raised concerns on the quality of the bedrock, while arguing Enbridge hadn’t taken into account the risk of drilling into methane deposits, carrying risks for explosion and flooding of the tunnel.
In an email to the Michigan Advance, Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said the ground conditions were not part of EGLE’s permit review and were instead reviewed and examined over several years in the Michigan Public Service Commission’s approval process.
The commission’s approval is under review by the Michigan Supreme Court following appeals from the Bay Mills Indian Community, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi alongside multiple environmental groups.
“Since the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy first granted these same permits four years ago, our team has made consistent progress in refining the project. We’ve gathered extensive site-specific environmental data, which has been thoughtfully integrated into our updated application,” Duffy said in a statement. “We are confident in the quality and expertise of our tunnel team and its environmentally respectful approach to building the tunnel. Our commitment to safeguarding the Great Lakes, preserving the environment, and supporting local communities remains at the heart of this project.”
While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer campaigned on shutting down Line 5, terminating the company’s easement to operate on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac in 2020, advocates at Tuesday’s press conference demanded Whitmer reaffirm her opposition to the pipeline.
When asked for comment, Whitmer’s Press Secretary Stacey LaRouche directed the Michigan Advance to EGLE.
“EGLE is committed to taking regulatory action within its statutory authority that protects public health and the environment. During our review of this proposed project, our top priority has been protecting the Straits of Mackinac and the surrounding wetlands from adverse environmental impacts,” Scott Dean, the department’s strategic communications advisor, said in an email.
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