Latest news with #EnbridgeLine5
Global News
4 days ago
- Business
- Global News
U.S. Army Corps analysis looks at Enbridge's Line 5 tunnel plan and potential environmental impacts
Building an underground tunnel for an aging Enbridge oil pipeline that stretches across a Great Lakes channel could destroy wetlands and harm bat habitats but would eliminate the chances of a boat anchor rupturing the line and causing a catastrophic spill, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday in a long-awaited draft analysis of the proposed project's environmental impacts. The analysis moves the corps a step closer to approving the tunnel for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. The tunnel was proposed in 2018 at a cost of $500 million but has been bogged down by legal challenges. The corps fast-tracked the project in April after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies in January to identify energy projects for expedited emergency permitting. A final environmental assessment is expected by autumn, with a permitting decision to follow later this year. The agency initially planned to issue a permitting decision in early 2026. Story continues below advertisement With that permit in hand, Enbridge would only need permission from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy before it could begin constructing the tunnel. That's far from a given, though. Environmentalists have been pressuring the state to deny the permit. Meanwhile, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are trying to win court rulings that would force Enbridge to remove the existing pipeline from the straits for good. Construction could have major short-term, long-term impacts The analysis notes that the tunnel would eliminate the risk of a boat anchor rupturing the pipeline and causing a spill in the straits, a key concern for environmentalists. But the construction would have sweeping effects on everything from recreation to wildlife. View image in full screen In this photo shot from a television screen provided by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy in June 2020, shows damage to anchor support EP-17-1 on the east leg of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline within the Straits of Mackinac in Mich. CREDIT: Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy via AP, File Many of the impacts, such as noise, vistas marred by 121-metre cranes, construction lights degrading stargazing opportunities at Headlands International Dark Sky Park and vibrations that would disturb aquatic wildlife would end when the work is completed, the report found. Story continues below advertisement Other impacts would last longer, including the loss of wetlands and vegetation on both sides of the strait that connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, and the loss of nearly 300 trees that the northern long-eared bat and tricoloured bat use to roost. Grading and excavation also could disturb or destroy archaeological sites. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The tunnel-boring machine could cause vibrations that could shift the area's geology. Soil in the construction area could become contaminated and nearly 200 truck trips daily during the six-year construction period would degrade area roads, the analysis found. Gas mixing with water seeping into the tunnel could result in an explosion, but the analysis notes that Enbridge plans to install fans to properly ventilate the tunnel during excavation. Enbridge has pledged to comply with all safety standards, replant vegetation where possible and contain erosion, the analysis noted. The company also has said it would try to limit the loudest work to daytime hours as much as possible, and offset harm to wetlands and protected species by buying credits through mitigation banks. That money can then be used to fund restoration in other areas. 'Our goal is to have the smallest possible environmental footprint,' Enbridge officials said in a statement. The Sierra Club issued a statement Friday saying the tunnel remains 'an existential threat.' 'Chances of an oil spill in the Great Lakes — our most valuable freshwater resource — skyrockets if this tunnel is built in the Straits,' the group said. Story continues below advertisement 'We can't drink oil. We can't fish or swim in oil.' Julie Goodwin, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, an environmental law group that opposes the project, said the corps failed to consider the impacts of a spill that could still happen on either side of the straits or stopping the flow of oil through the Great Lakes. 'My key takeaways are the Army corps has put blinders are in service to Enbridge and President Trump's fossil fuel agenda,' she said. Tunnel would protect portion of Line 5 running through straits Enbridge has been using the Line 5 pipeline to transport crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wis., and Sarnia, Ont., since 1953. Roughly six kilometres of the pipeline runs along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac. Story continues below advertisement Concerns about the aging pipeline rupturing and causing a potentially disastrous spill in the straits have been building over the last decade. Those fears intensified in 2018 when an anchor damaged the line. Enbridge contends that the line remains structurally sound, but it struck a deal with then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's administration in 2018 that calls for the company to replace the straits portion of the line with a new section that would be encased in a protective underground tunnel. Enbridge and environmentalists spar in court battles Environmentalists, Indigenous groups and Democrats have been fighting in court for years to stop the tunnel and force Enbridge to remove the existing pipeline from the straits. They've had little success so far. A Michigan appellate court in February validated the state Public Service Commission's permits for the tunnel. Nessel sued in 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Line 5 to run through the straits. That case is still pending. Whitmer revoked the easement in 2020, but Enbridge challenged that decision and a federal appellate court in April ruled that the case can proceed. Another legal fight over Line 5 in Wisconsin About 19 kilometres of Line 5 runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's reservation in northern Wisconsin. That tribe sued in 2019 to force Enbridge to remove the line from the reservation, arguing it's prone to spilling and that easements allowing it to operate on the reservation expired in 2013. Story continues below advertisement Enbridge has proposed a 66-kilometre reroute around the reservation. The tribe has filed a lawsuit seeking to void state construction permits for the project and has joined several other groups in challenging the permits through the state's contested case process.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration orders Consumers Energy to keep Michigan coal-fired power plant open
The Trump administration has ordered Consumers Energy to continue operating a coal-fired power plant in west Michigan that was slated for shutdown May 31, citing the potential for an energy emergency due to heightened summer demand. But the chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission says no energy emergency exists and the move will increase customer costs. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced the emergency order May 23, calling for Consumers Energy's J.H. Campbell plant in Ottawa County's West Olive to remain open beyond its slated closure May 31. The Campbell plant is the last coal-fired power plant operated by Consumers and one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the state. "(The) emergency order ensures that Michiganders and the greater Midwest region do not lose critical power generation capability as summer begins and electricity demand regularly reach high levels," he said. "This administration will not sit back and allow dangerous energy subtraction policies (to) threaten the resiliency of our grid and raise electric prices on American families." But Michigan Public Service Commission chairman Dan Scripps said there is no existing energy emergency either in Michigan or with MISO, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the regional energy transmission organization that includes Michigan, 14 other U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. "We currently produce more energy in Michigan than needed," Scripps said. "The unnecessary recent order from the U.S. Department of Energy will increase the cost of power for homes and businesses across the Midwest." More: DNR halts state land leases for utility-scale solar projects More: Trump emergency order will expedite permitting process for Enbridge Line 5 tunnel The J.H. Campbell Complex began operating in 1962 and generates up to 1,450 megawatts of electricity — enough to serve a million people. The 2,000-acre facility was named after James H. Campbell, a former president of Consumers Energy from 1960 to 1972. The utility in recent years announced plans to provide coal-free power generation and reduce its carbon emissions by 90% by 2025, 15 years faster than earlier projections. By 2040 Consumers Energy officials expected 90% of their electric generation to come from cleaner energy sources. Consumers Energy officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Trump administration cited its emergency authority under the Federal Power Act, which allows the secretary of energy to require temporary connections of facilities and generation, delivery, interchange or transmission of energy as the secretary determines will best meet an emergency and serve the public interest during a time that the U.S. is engaged in a war "or when an emergency exists by reason of a sudden increase in the demand for electric energy, or a shortage of electric energy, or of facilities for the generation or transmission of electric energy" or other causes. Greg Wannier, senior attorney for the nonprofit environmental group Sierra Club, said in a statement that the emergency order "is an illegal abuse" of Trump's presidential authority. 'If Trump's made-up energy emergency had an ounce of truth to it, he wouldn't be banning wind energy and canceling renewable energy projects," Wannier said. "This so-called energy emergency is a sham and we will not stand by and let this administration prop up a dying industry so Trump's fossil fuel buddies can make more money at the expense of Americans." Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump orders Consumers Energy to keep coal-fired plant open
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bad River tribe prepares to challenge Army Corps of Engineers' Line 5 reroute permit
A sign protesting Enbridge Line 5 in Michigan. (Laina G. Stebbins | Michigan Advance) The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is preparing to argue against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issuing a permit to reroute Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline in northern Wisconsin. For years, the tribe has fought against Line 5, which runs from far Northwest Wisconsin 645 miles into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, under the Straits of Mackinac and across the U.S. border into Canada near Detroit. It transports about 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily. An underground section of the pipeline currently passes near a bend in the Bad River on the tribe's reservation. In 2023, a federal judge ruled that the company was trespassing on tribal land and gave Enbridge three years to shut down the pipeline. Since 2020, Enbridge has been working on rerouting the pipeline about 41 miles away from tribal land. That proposal requires permits to be issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The tribe is also currently challenging the state's permitting process. Hearings will be held in August, September and October in Madison and Ashland in which an administrative law judge will hear arguments against the DNR's decision to issue permits for the project. Army Corps approval of Enbridge's plan to replace a separate section of the pipeline on the floor of the Straits of Mackinac has been fast tracked under President Donald Trump's executive order declaring a national energy emergency, but the Bad River section of the pipeline is still moving forward under the normal approval process. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Bad River Band and its attorneys will present to the Corps their finding that the proposed rerouted pipeline, which would pass the Bad River upstream of the reservation, threatens the tribe's water quality and therefore violates the Clean Water Act. The tribe's presentation is scheduled to take all day Tuesday and some of Wednesday. Members of the public will then be able to provide public comment during a virtual hearing and send written comments for 30 days after the hearing. Robert Blanchard, the tribe's chairman, says he's working to protect the tribe's resources and way of life by bringing the challenge. 'Ultimately, we are protecting our resources. We're downstream from this project. If it were to go in, were to happen, there's a lot at stake just with how this will affect our waters,' he says. 'We have one of the biggest wild rice areas on the Great Lakes. We have a lot of medicines that I and members of my community collect that have been around for hundreds of years, and we have hunting and fishing rights that will be affected. You know, if we can't use those because of what's happening upstream, then that will affect our way of life.' Juli Kellner, a spokesperson for Enbridge, says the hearings this week are an important step for completing the project, which she adds won't affect water quality. 'Extensive and thorough analysis by leading, third-party experts has confirmed that construction impacts will be temporary and isolated, have no measurable impact on water quality, and will not violate the Bad River Band's water quality standards,' Kellner says. 'The project will have environmental protections and restoration plans in place, as approved by state regulators. State permits were issued last fall. We're confident the Corps is close to completing its process which has included more than five years of public input, expert studies, and rigorous review. In fact, this is one of the most studied projects in Wisconsin's history.' Under the Clean Water Act, if the Corps finds that the project will adversely affect a downstream jurisdiction's water quality and there are no conditions that can be put on the permit to ensure water quality standards aren't violated, the permit cannot be granted, according to the tribe's attorney, Stefanie Tsosie. 'We are presenting evidence to the Army Corps that the band's water quality standards will be affected, and there are no conditions that they can put on the project permit such that they can issue it,' she says. 'So, I think our hope here is one, to show how much the project is going to impact the advanced water quality, but then two, urge the Corps to not issue the section 404 permit eventually.' But the hearing is taking place as the Trump administration has worked to encourage more extraction of natural resources, boost the oil industry and go easier on polluters. Last week, the climate-focused news outlet Grist reported that under Trump, the EPA has practically stopped enforcing the country's environmental laws. Tsosie says all the tribe can work with is what the law says. 'Well, the standard in the Clean Water Act is pretty clear,' she says. 'And that's statute, so that's what we're going with.' Blanchard says he can't forecast what the Corps is going to do, but he can just make his best case that granting the permit will be harmful to everyone who lives downstream. 'I wish I had that crystal ball to be able to forecast that, but I don't, so what we're going to do tomorrow is do our very best to convince them that this is the way it should be,' he says. 'We need to look after our Mother Earth, to pay attention to what we're doing, what's happening to it, and like I said before, it's going to affect not just our way of life and not just those that live in the region, not just us as Anishinaabe people, but everybody.' If the Corps grants the permit, that decision could still be challenged in court. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's ‘energy emergency' means green light for Enbridge Line 5
Mary Annette PemberICT Six Michigan tribes have withdrawn from federal discussions over the controversial Enbridge Line 5 project after learning that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are fast-tracking approval for the massive oil tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac. The escalation of the project follows an executive order declaring a 'national energy emergency' issued by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, his first day in office. On March 21, the six tribes — the Bay Mills Indian Community, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi — sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Detroit stating their decision to withdraw from the agency's creation of the environmental impact statement for the oil tunnel. SUPPORT INDIGENOUS JOURNALISM. In the letter, tribal leaders noted that they had participated in the Corps' review process and meetings under the National Environmental Policy Act as cooperating agencies providing their input and expertise. But they said they were told at a March 20 meeting with the Corps that the agency is likely to issue an emergency permit to fast-track the Straits of Mackinac project. Tribal leaders called the action 'unacceptable' in the letter. "We participated in the process, we followed the rules, we provided the case law, we submitted the evidence, and we trusted that our voices and our treaty rights would be respected,' said Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle in a statement issued by Earth Justice, a nonprofit environmental law organization. 'Yet, once again, the federal government has cast us aside and failed us," Gravelle said in the statement. In an interview with ICT, Gravelle noted that tribes have been providing input and expertise to the Corps since 2021. 'This is a Canadian pipeline running through Michigan for Canada. We are simply the highway that they are taking advantage of in order to have a shorter route,' Gravelle said. 'The executive order declaring a national emergency is intended to be used on fuel for the U.S. by the U.S. Line 5 doesn't meet that standard.' In an email to ICT, Ryan Duffy, media spokesperson for Enbridge, said Line 5 is 'critical energy infrastructure.' 'We value our relationships with all the communities and community members in areas where Enbridge has assets,' Duffy said. 'As we continue to move closer to construction on the Great Lakes Tunnel Project, we remain committed to including tribes and tribal citizens in this incredibly important and consequential project and welcome constructive dialogue and engagement.' He said the State of Michigan has already provided environmental permits for the project, and the Michigan Public Services Commission approved the new pipeline segment under the Straits of Mackinac. 'Line 5 is critical energy infrastructure,' Duffy said. 'Enbridge submitted its permit applications in April 2020 for the Great Lakes Tunnel, a project designed to make a safe pipeline safer while also ensuring the continued safe, secure, and affordable delivery of essential energy to the Great Lakes region …However, after nearly five years, the project still awaits action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on an environmental impact statement and a permitting decision.' Carrie Fox, public affairs specialist for the Corp's Detroit district, responded to ICT's request for comment with an email outlining the procedures for emergency permits. 'The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is continuing efforts to implement the January 20, 2025, Presidential Executive Order 14156 - Declaring a National Energy Emergency,' Fox said. 'During declared emergency events such as this national energy emergency, longstanding USACE regulations allow divisions to establish emergency permitting procedures to expedite the coordination efforts with federal, state, and tribal partners for comment,' Fox wrote. 'On 17 March, USACE Headquarters instructed division commanders to establish these procedures. Once established, districts will post the procedures in a public notice. These procedures will cover applications for Department of the Army permits related to the energy activities covered by Executive Order 14156.' 'Fossil fuel subsidy in disguise' Enbridge's Line 5 begins its 645-mile run in Superior, Wisconsin, at the company's manifold and runs through northern Wisconsin, parts of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation, east through Michigan's Upper Peninsula and under the Straits of Mackinac, before terminating in Sarnia, Ontario. The line carries up to 540,000 barrels per day of light crude oil and synthetic crude, as well as natural gas liquids such as propane. About four miles of the line rest underwater on the lake bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. In 2018 and 2019, the pipeline was struck by ship anchors in the straits' busy shipping lanes. Although no oil was spilled during these accidents, opponents note that Line 5 has leaked in other areas, releasing over 1 million gallons of oil in various spots in the past 50 years. According to tribes and other critics of the project, a spill in the straits would have catastrophic effects on the environment, water, fish and wildlife, and would endanger tribal members' abilities to practice their subsistence ways of life protected under the Treaty of 1836. In 2010, Enbridge's Line 6B ruptured, spilling 3.3 million gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River. The president's order states that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should take 'prompt and appropriate action' concerning the use of emergency Army Corps permits. 'The United States' ability to remain at the forefront of technological innovation depends on a reliable supply of energy and the integrity of our nation's electrical grid,' according to the executive order. 'There is no national energy emergency,' Debbie Chizewer, an Earth Justice attorney representing the Bay Mills tribe, told ICT. 'This is really a fossil fuel subsidy in disguise. The project doesn't add to American energy capacity because oil is already flowing through the pipeline.' Looking ahead Chizewer and Gravelle both noted that most of the product flowing though Line 5 originates and terminates in Canada. Enbridge's Line 3, which originates in Hardisty, Ontario, carries petroleum products traveling east through Minnesota before terminating in the company's manifold in Superior, Wisconsin. Line 5 then carries the products through Wisconsin, Michigan and back to Canada in Sarnia. Line 5 also supplies some propane to U.S. locations along its route through Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Under the Biden administration, the Army Corps was preparing a draft Environmental Impact Statement after receiving more than 17,000 public comments on the tunnel project. An internal memo circulated in early January before Trump took office directed the agency to assess the risk of oil spills before approving the tunnel project, and to consider other alternatives in its review. The letter was written by former Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jaime Pinkham. Gravelle noted that PInkham's memo has not been rescinded. 'So what we have now are two conflicting federal mandates,' Gravelle said. Tribes will, however, continue to participate as consulting parties for the project under the National Historic Preservation Act, according to David Gover of the Pawnee and Choctaw tribes. He is an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, which is representing the tribes. 'The emergency order essentially eliminates the tribes' opportunity to have a full consultation on the project,' he said. Enbridge still needs permits from Michigan's Department of Environment and Great Lakes and Energy before going forward with the project, however, and still must go through Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office. Whitmer has long been an opponent to the project, previously ordering the state's Department of Natural Resources to revoke the permit allowing Enbridge to operate the pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. According to Michigan Advance, attorneys for Whitmer and Michigan's Department of Natural Resources are currently looking to dismiss legal challenges from Enbridge. 'Uniquely, we have every single tribal nation in the state of Michigan standing up and saying the tunnel is a bad idea; it was a bad idea when it was first built in 1953 and it continues to be a bad idea now,' Gravelle said. 'How can we allow an oil and gas pipeline to run through the largest freshwater body resource in North America where 40 million people rely on it for drinking water on a daily basis?' she asked. 'It just doesn't make any sense.' Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter. ICT, formerly Indian Country Today, is a nonprofit news organization that covers the Indigenous world with a daily digital platform and news broadcast with international viewership
