As legal sparring continues, Army Corps pushes Line 5 permit timeline to 2025
ST. IGNACE — The future of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline remains unclear as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently pushed the permitting timeline to spring 2025.
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As the twin oil pipelines at the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac turn 70 years old, the proposed Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel Project has been delayed at least another two years, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District.
During the final days of former Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration in December 2018, Snyder agreed with Enbridge’s proposition to build a tunnel through the Straits. Enbridge said it could resolve public concerns regarding Line 5 polluting the Great Lakes by boring a tunnel deep beneath the lakebed and housing twin oil pipelines there.
When the deal was struck, Enbridge estimated the project would be completed by 2024. Recent developments indicate the project won’t begin until 2026, if it begins at all.
After receiving more than 17,000 public comments, the Army Corps of Engineers said it needed more time to consider the environmental impacts of the tunnel. Enbridge needs two permits from USACE to construct the tunnel under the bed of the Straits between Point LaBarbe, St. Ignace, and McGulpin Point, Mackinaw City.
The proposed tunnel would house a new 30-inch pipeline for light crude oil and liquid natural gas, replacing the existing submerged pipelines.
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“We greatly appreciate the meaningful input received throughout scoping,” said Detroit District Commander Lt. Col. Brett Boyle. "(We) will use this information to shape studies and continuing consultations throughout development of our draft environmental impact statement.”
Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy expressed disappointment at the delay.
“While we are supportive of a thorough, comprehensive, and carefully considered permitting process that ensures adequate opportunity for review and comment, we are disappointed with the extended timeline for a project of this scope,” Duffy said.
Meanwhile, Enbridge continues transporting a daily sum of 540,000 barrels of light crude oil and natural gas liquids through Line 5. Though Enbridge carries out its operations in defiance of a shutdown order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and ongoing litigation from Attorney General Dana Nessel, some argue the pipeline benefits Michigan.
A portion of the natural gas liquids carried by the pipeline is refined into propane and used in the Upper Peninsula. Some Michigan drilling companies use Line 5 to transport the oil they produce. Enbridge pays about $65 million in annual property taxes and employs about 100 residents.
Critics of the tunnel say no oil should be transported through the Straits, as a spill could devastate more than 700 miles of shoreline. Critics cite Enbridge’s 2010 spill and the devastation it caused as evidence that Line 5 needs to go.
In July 2010, Enbridge's Line 6B pipeline ruptured near Marshall, Michigan, dumping 1.2 million gallons of crude oil along 38 miles of Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River. It was one of the worst freshwater inland oil spills in U.S. history. It took four years to clean up, thousands of wildlife died, and Enbridge has paid nearly $1.3 billion in cleanup and restoration.
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The spill went on for 17 hours before Enbridge shut off the flow after a local utility company employee noticed the pooling oil and notified authorities. Shortly after the spill began, Enbridge employees had been alerted to a pressure loss by company monitors but they dismissed the notification as a false alarm.
The devastation of the 2010 spill galvanized millions of Michigan residents to oppose Line 5. All 12 federally recognized Indigenous tribes in Michigan have opposed the continued operation of the pipeline and the proposed tunnel, saying a spill in the Straits would be catastrophic.
“In 2010, when Line 6B erupted, it felt like there was this collective awakening. Many of our tribal citizens finally understood the impact that Line 5 could have on us as an Indigenous people, on our treaty rights, which we consider very sacred, and on the natural landscape we rely on to earn our livelihoods,” said Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community in the eastern Upper Peninsula. “If there were a Garden of Eden, that is what the Straits of Mackinac is to our people.”
Enbridge’s tunnel proposition may have been pushed to 2025, but litigation seeking to void Enbridge’s use of the 1953 Line 5 easement remains ongoing. In February 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan — which last August shot down Nessel’s attempt to bring the case back to state court — made way for Nessel to appeal that decision to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The issue of which court holds jurisdiction over the lawsuit is a crucial detail in the legal battle because legal scholars have said a Michigan state court is more likely to rule in favor of Nessel. In contrast, Enbridge would be more likely to prevail in federal court. No decisions have been reached at this time.
— Ren Brabenec is a Brimley-based freelance writer and journalist with The Sault News. Contact him at hello@renbrabenec.com.
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: As legal sparring continues, Army Corps pushes Line 5 permit timeline to 2025
