By rosebell
Permits issued to Enbridge Energy’s for its proposed Line 5 tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac are to be reviewed by the state of Michigan.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer’s announcement yesterday follows a decision by the Michigan Supreme Court on July 31 that overturned the Michigan Public Service Commission’s approval of Enbridge’s proposed tunnel project and sent the case back to the commission for further proceedings. The court ruled that the commission had failed to properly consider environmental impacts, alternatives and the project’s potential effects on public trust resources.
Governor Whitmer said the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) would now review the impact of the court’s decision on past tunnel permits.
She has also written to Enbridge’s CEO, demanding the company stopped viewing a tunnel as the only alternative.
“I want the oil out of the water in months – not the decade or more it would take to build a tunnel,” she said.
“Line 5’s 73-year-old pipelines are a ticking time bomb in the Straits of Mackinac. Every day they continue to sit there, they are putting our drinking water, our economy, and our way of life at risk,” Whitmer added.
In 2021, EGLE issued Part 303 and Part 325 permits to Enbridge for the Great Lakes Tunnel Project. Because construction had not begun, the permits expired earlier this year. EGLE reissued the new permit in early July following a 16-month review period covering Enbridge’s bottomlands and wetlands permit application.
The proposed tunnel would house a replacement for the aging Line 5 light crude oil and natural gas pipelines currently lying on the lakebed. The Straits of Mackinac connects the Great Lakes of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
Environmentalists and native Americans are among those opposing the project.
