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3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Army Corps releases environmental review for Line 5 tunnel through Great Lakes
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a long-awaited draft of its environmental review for Enbridge's Line 5 Tunnel project through the Straits of Mackinac. Although the draft is not an official decision, it gives the an idea of how the agency views the project. The Corps is accepting public comments through June with a decision expected in the fall. The Great Lakes Tunnel Project was fast-tracked earlier this spring as a part of the Trump administration's goal to "unleash" American oil and gas. Canadian-headquartered Enbridge has proposed to build a tunnel to house its Line 5 pipeline through the 4 1/2 mile stretch separating Lakes Michigan and Huron. The Army Corps' Detroit District, which is overseeing the permitting process, said it will not eliminate any steps in the environmental review process. But Great Lakes tribes and environmental groups remain unconvinced that the aged-out pipeline can continue to operate safely through the world's largest surface freshwater system. Several Great Lakes tribes withdrew as cooperating agencies in the review process, saying that the federal agency was not acting in good faith. Tribal leaders claimed the process lacked meaningful dialogue and undermined the federal government's responsibility to protect tribal treaty rights. The draft spans hundreds of pages, evaluating the necessity of the proposed project and examining potential environmental impacts while also reviewing possible alternatives. It considered two main alternatives, which included denying permits and allowing the existing pipeline to operate under the Straits as is, or placing a protective cover over the portions that are currently exposed. It also considered changing the tunnel's design and decommissioning the pipeline entirely. Officials from the Corps concluded that the project is warranted, citing projections that demand for the petroleum products transported by the pipeline will either remain stable or grow over the next 25 years. Over the years in the Straits of Mackinac, Line 5 has experienced anchor strikes, missing supports and coating loss, exposing patches of bare metal. The tunnel became possible after a review by former Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who in his final month of office when he created the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority. The corridor authority signed 99-year lease agreement with Enbridge to continue operations of the Line 5 tunnel. Enbridge has said the Great Lakes Tunnel will nearly eliminate the risks of a pipeline incident. The tunnel will be bored into rock 60 to 250 feet under the lakebed, using a tunnel boring machine that will move the tunnel forward 40 feet per day on average. It will be constructed the south side of the Straits to the northern shores, which Enbridge says minimizes environmental impacts. The tunnel will be owned and operated by Michigan, and leased to the company. The Great Lakes Tunnel Project also needs two state permits, one from Michigan's Public Service Commission and the other from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Enbridge has secured the permit from the public service commission, but must redo the permitting process with the environment and energy agency given new information on nearby wetlands. The permit from the state public service commission was challenged by tribes, but that challenge was struck down earlier this year. On April 2, tribes and environmental groups asked the state Supreme Court to consider overturning the lower court's decision. Line 5 opponents have long worried about the risks the pipeline poses to the Great Lakes. The pipeline, which was built in 1953, was built to last 50 years, and leaked 35 times during its tenure. Environmentalists and Great Lakes tribes warn of risks at the Straits of Mackinac, which is seen as the worst place in the region for an oil spill and sacred to Anishinaabe tribes. They also cite threats to nearby wetlands and explosion risks within the tunnel. The Line 6 oil spill that occurred late last year in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, has heightened these fears. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an international think tank, released a report earlier this year that said that shutting down the pipeline would be a more cost-effective avenue for the company as that the tunnel will likely cost three times the initial estimate due to inflation and rising costs. More: As Lake Superior wetlands become more vulnerable, tribe fears cultural guideposts could slip away Caitlin Looby is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and the Great Lakes. Reach her at clooby@ follow her on X @caitlooby and learn more about how she approaches her reporting. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Army Corps releases environmental review for Line 5 Great Lakes tunnel
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Michigan appeals court upholds permits for Great Lakes pipeline tunnel project
Enbridge Energy's plans to build a protective tunnel around an aging pipeline that runs beneath a channel connecting two Great Lakes can continue, a Michigan appeals court ruled. The state Public Service Commission properly issued permits for the $500 million project, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday in rejecting arguments from environmental groups and Native American tribes that commissioners failed to consider the overall need for the pipeline. Tunnel would encase pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac Enbridge wants to build a protective tunnel around a 4-mile (6-kilometer) section of its Line 5 pipeline that runs along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Enbridge has been using the pipeline since 1953 to transport crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario. Concerns about a potentially catastrophic spill in the straits have been building since 2017, when Enbridge officials revealed that engineers had known about gaps in the pipeline's coating in the straits since 2014. Fears of a spill escalated in 2018 when a boat anchor damaged the line. Enbridge officials maintain that the line is structurally sound, but they still reached an agreement with then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's administration in 2018 that calls for the company to build the protective tunnel. Environmental groups, tribes challenge state permits The Michigan Public Service Commission issued state permits for the project in December 2023. Environmental groups including the Michigan Environmental Council and the National Wildlife Federation, along with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and the Nottawseppi Huron band of the Potawatomi asked the appellate court last year to reverse the commission's decision. The groups and the tribes alleged that the commission improperly considered only the public need for the tunnel rather than whether the entire pipeline as a whole is still necessary. They also argued the commission failed to adequately consider petroleum products' greenhouse gas impacts. Court: Commission acted reasonably The appellate court found that the commission issued a 'comprehensive' opinion and acted reasonably. It said there was no basis for a reversal or to order the commission to revisit its decision. David Scott, a senior attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center and the Michigan Climate Action Network, which are also plaintiffs in the case, said in an email that he was disappointed with the ruling and considering further moves. He didn't elaborate. Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy praised the decision, saying the tunnel will make a safe pipeline even safer. The legal fight isn't over The ruling Wednesday doesn't end the legal battle over the tunnel. Current Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, opposes the continued operation of Line 5 even if it's encased in a tunnel. Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit in 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows the line to run beneath the straits. That case is pending in state court in Ingham County. A ruling could come any day. Enbridge still needs federal construction permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, although environmentalists fear that President Donald Trump's administration will fast-track that process after Trump declared a national energy emergency on his first day in office.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anti-Line 5 coalition raises alarms as tunnel project is placed on emergency permitting list
Anti-Line 5 sign at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Detroit District public scoping meeting regarding the Line 5 tunnel project, Saint Ignace, Sept. 8, 2022 | Sharon Fighter Opponents of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline are warning that a January 20 executive order could fast track the permitting process for the pipeline's controversial tunnel project. Indigenous activists and environmental organizations have advocated against the pipeline for years, raising particular concern about a four-mile stretch running through the Straits of Mackinac that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. In 2018 the pipeline was dented in three places by an anchor strike, with another cable or anchor strike in 2019 harming the pipeline's protective coating and severely damaging a support, breeding further fears of the pipeline rupturing. Opponents warn a spill from the pipeline would be catastrophic, with Line 5 transporting more than 22 million gallons of light crude oil and light synthetic crude through the straits daily. Though activists argue the pipeline is too great a threat to continue operating, Enbridge signed an agreement with GOP Gov. Rick Snyder in 2018 to build a utility tunnel in the Straits aimed at containing any potential spills. The dual pipelines would be relocated into a concrete-lined tunnel buried beneath the lakebed. However, in order to move forward with construction, the pipeline must receive permits from the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), the Michigan Public Service Commission and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). While the Army Corps of Engineers announced in March 2023 that it would extend its environmental review for the tunnel project, with plans to issues its draft environmental impact statement in Spring 2025, members of the anti-Line 5 coalition Oil and Water Don't Mix are warning President Donald Trump's executive order declaring a national energy emergency may expedite the permit's review. The USACE has until Feb. 20 to designate emergency projects for expedited processing, with the Line 5 tunnel project among those under consideration for an emergency permit on the corps' website. Emergency approval would undermine the extended environmental review process, the coalition said. 'Rushing the approval process for an oil tunnel beneath the Great Lakes is the opposite of emergency action – it's reckless endangerment,' Oil and Water Don't Mix Campaign Coordinator Sean McBrearty said in a statement. 'The Great Lakes provide drinking water for millions of people and support a multi-billion dollar tourism and fishing economy. Ensuring that the Great Lakes continue to be a shortcut for Enbridge to move Canadian oil that we don't need is not an emergency. This is precisely the kind of project that demands careful scrutiny and robust public participation, not a rubber stamp.' Trump's executive order instructs the USACE to exercise its emergency powers to the fullest extent practicable, with the coalition warning these measures raise serious concerns about transparency and environmental protection. 'The public has a right to weigh in on projects that could impact their water, their livelihoods, and their communities for generations to come,' McBrearty said. 'We're putting the Army Corps on notice — we're watching this process closely and will fight any attempt to bypass essential environmental reviews or silence public voices.' Oil and Water Don't Mix has demanded the USACE maintain its full environmental review process, ensure meaningful opportunities for public participation and reject any efforts to classify the project as an emergency in need of expedited review. The National Wildlife Federation raised similar concerns, arguing that fast tracking the project would set a dangerous precedent and place the waters wildlife and people of the Great Lakes in danger. When asked about the status of the tunnel project's USACE permit, Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy emphasized that the pipeline is critical energy infrastructure. '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,' Duffy said in an email. While the state has provided its environmental permits, and the MPSC has approved the company's plan for the tunnel project, the project is still awaiting action on an environmental impact statement and a permitting decision five years later, Duffy said. However, the permit issued by the MPSC is currently under appeal, following legal challenges filed by the Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, alongside several environmental organizations. Enbridge must also redo one of its permits as part of a legal agreement with EGLE and the Bay Mills Indian Community, allowing its current water resources to expire on Feb. 25, 2026 while incorporating updated information on the project's potential impacts to nearby wetlands into its new application. EGLE Strategic Communications Advisor Scott Dean told the Advance in an email that the company had completed mapping of wetlands that could be impacted by the project and the Wetland Identification Program had performed their services in preparation for Enbridge's wetlands protection and Great Lakes bottomlands permit application. However, this application has not been submitted yet, Dean said. Additionally, Enbridge filed another application for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit last week, with its current permit set to expire on Oct. 1, 2025, Dean said. Initiated by the Clean Water Act in 1972, this permit aims to protect water quality by imposing limits on the amount of pollutants that can be discharged into a body of water. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
