Opponents of drilling a tunnel to house an oil and natural gas liquids pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac gathered last night, calling on the State of Michigan to take a harder look at the project when it reconsiders a Water Resources Permit.
The Canadian pipeline company, Enbridge, proposes rerouting its 72-year-old Line 5 through the proposed tunnel rather than leaving it where it is now, lying on the bottom of the Straits, the four-mile-wide stretch of water that connects Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, one of the regulators involved in permitting the tunnel project, recently released a draft Environmental Impact Statement. The draft and the permitting process is being rushed by an order by President Donald Trump as part of his declaration of a "national energy emergency."
One of the speakers at an event last night said the Army Corps of Engineers is taking less of a look at the environmental impact than the Michigan Public Service Commission and EGLE, both of which have approved permits, although the EGLE permits will have to be reconsidered.
Environmentalists opposed to the Line 5 tunnel felt the draft statement neglected an important aspect.
“Nobody so far in this permitting process have looked at the actual environmental impacts of building a tunnel through the most sensitive part of the bottomlands of the Great Lakes,” said Sean McBrearty, Michigan state director of Clean Water Action.
He said he hopes EGLE considers that when it again looks at permits for the tunnel project.
For the Love of Water (FLOW) Executive Director Liz Kirkwood outlined the legal proceedings that have occurred during the permitting process. They include a back and forth struggle to keep a lawsuit filed against Enbridge by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in state courts rather than federal courts. There is some dispute over Michigan’s public trust rights over the bottomlands of the Straits of Mackinac.
Native American tribes are also concerned there are ancient ancestral structures on the lake bottom that could be damaged by the construction of the tunnel.
There is also Canada’s invocation of treaty rights which protect the transfer of energy across national boundaries.
Kirkwood said throughout the process Enbridge insists that Line 5 is critical infrastructure for Canada and the U.S., although the bulk of the oil merely crosses through Michigan to deliver tar sands oil extracted from western Canada to the big population centers in Ontario and Quebec.
“And they’re saying that multinational corporations should be able to trump sovereign rights of states and indigenous peoples because oil is more important and their profits are more important than our ability to govern and protect the most important thing, which is water,” Kirkwood told the audience in Traverse City and online.
McBrearty of Michigan Clean Water Action said Enbridge has been on a campaign to discredit the environmentalists and businesses opposed to the Line 5 tunnel, by buying ads on media and buying gasoline at stations to give away to people in small towns to persuade them to support the tunnel project.
“Despite all of that and their efforts in the press to make it look like we’re a marginalized group, our movement is growing.”
In an emailed statement, Enbridge said in part, “In designing and constructing the tunnel, Enbridge is working with state and federal agencies to study and develop plans that will minimize and mitigate impacts to the natural environment, natural resources, cultural heritage and community priorities.”
Groundwork Center, the organizer of last night’s event, issued a news release immediately after it was over, saying more than 800 people have already sent letters to Governor Whitmer and Director Roos.
Enbridge is among Michigan Public's corporate sponsors.
