LANSING—A ruling on Friday by the Michigan Public Service Commission has approved a site permit for a yet-to-be-constructed tunnel that would house Enbridge Energy’s controversial 70-year-old Line 5 pipeline. The pipeline currently runs along the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac posing a significant risk to the waters of Lake Huron and Manitoulin Island as well as Lake Michigan.
The commission indicated in its decision that the proposed $5 billion tunnel would be the “best option” to improve safety while at the same time securing the public need for fossil fuels. The dual pipeline carries more than half a million barrels of oil and natural gas liquids per day and supplies the bulk of the energy needs of Michigan and other northern states as well as to Ontario’s many refineries in Sarnia. The Canadian government has indicated that the pipeline is also vital to the energy and employment needs of Ontario, Alberta and Quebec and has invoked a treaty to prevent its shutdown.
“It’s clear we need to get those pipelines off the bottomlands and out of the Great Lakes,” said Commission Chair Dan Scripps in announcing the decision.
Environmental and Indigenous advocates have cited the pipeline as an indefensible risk to the environment and Indigenous treaty rights. The groups also oppose the proposed tunnel to house the pipelines. They have vowed to appeal the commission’s decision.
The three-member commission voted 2-0 to approve the tunnel permit, with Commissioner Alessandra Carreon, the most recently appointed member, abstaining due to not having served long enough to have taken in all the evidence presented to the panel. Both commission members who voted in favour of approving the permit, Mr. Scripps and Commissioner Katherine Peretick, were appointed by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has vowed to shut down the pipeline.
Governor Whitmer’s office responded to the news by indicating that it was reviewing the decision of the independent commission and noted that there are still federal lawsuits over the pipeline in play and that Enbridge must still obtain federal approvals for the project.
Aside from those lawsuits, the permit approved on Friday clears one of the two remaining major regulatory hurdles that face the pipeline tunnel—the other being an assessment by the US Corps of Army Engineers.
The approval did not come with a cart blanch for Enbridge, however. The commission imposed requirements for additional risk assessments and safety considerations. Those did nothing to appease Line 5 opponents, however.
