{"id":20425,"date":"2026-09-10T08:55:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T08:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tunnelingworld.com\/?p=20425"},"modified":"2026-09-10T08:55:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T08:55:55","slug":"governor-orders-line-5-tunnel-permit-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tunnelingworld.com\/?p=20425","title":{"rendered":"Governor orders Line 5 tunnel permit review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Permits issued to Enbridge Energy\u2019s for its proposed Line 5 tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac are to be reviewed by the state of Michigan.<\/p>\n

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer\u2019s announcement yesterday follows a decision by the Michigan Supreme Court on July 31 that overturned the Michigan Public Service Commission\u2019s approval of Enbridge\u2019s 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\u2019s potential effects on public trust resources.<\/p>\n

Governor Whitmer said the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) would now review the impact of the court\u2019s decision on past tunnel permits.<\/p>\n

She has also written to Enbridge\u2019s CEO, demanding the company stopped viewing a tunnel as the only alternative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the oil out of the water in months \u2013 not the decade or more it would take to build a tunnel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLine 5\u2019s 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,\u201d Whitmer added.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0reissued<\/a>\u00a0the new permit in early July following a 16-month review period covering Enbridge\u2019s bottomlands and wetlands permit application.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Environmentalists and native Americans are among those opposing the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Permits issued to Enbridge Energy\u2019s for its proposed Line 5 tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac are to be reviewed by the state of Michigan. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer\u2019s announcement yesterday follows a decision by the Michigan Supreme Court on July 31 that overturned the Michigan Public Service Commission\u2019s approval of Enbridge\u2019s 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\u2019s potential effects on public trust resources. Governor Whitmer said the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[5524,5526,5523,5525],"class_list":["post-20425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-governor-whitmer","tag-great-lakes-and-energy-egle","tag-line-5-tunnel","tag-michigan-department-of-environment","post--single"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernor Orders Line 5 Tunnel Permit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer orders a review of permits for Enbridge Energy\u2019s proposed Line 5 tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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