A proposed tunnel that natural gas behemoth Enbridge claims is necessary to protect a section of its Line 5 pipeline is facing widespread pushback from community members and climate activists concerned about keeping the 4.5-mile section of pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac—which is nearing 70 years in service—connected to Enbridge’s larger 645-mile system. The Army Corps of Engineers is presently in a scoping period seeking public comment on the tunnel project. Hundreds daily are responding with climate concerns as well as environmental justice concerns.
Some of these comments come straight from templates created by environmental groups like Clean Water Action, which has been in this fight against Enbridge—whose name you might recognize from such scandals as its push for Line 3 and the Dakota Access Pipeline—for nearly a decade. “There's a lot of different interests on our side,” Clean Water Action Michigan Legislative and Policy Director Sean McBrearty explained. “This is really all about protecting the Great Lakes, protecting those [sacred] lands, and also doing what we can to fight the climate crisis, which means being able to shut down old, broken fossil fuel infrastructure that we don't need anymore.”
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Pipelines built in the 1950s, like Line 5, are ticking time bombs for disasters. In fact, Enbridge’s Line 6B, which sent more than 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River after rupturing in 2010, is much younger than Line 5, having been built in the 1980s. McBrearty has observed a change in rhetoric from Enbridge, which initially swore up and down that Line 5 was already safe on its own. Throughout, Enbridge claimed the pipeline was critical for, among other things, heating homes and ensuring affordable gas prices. For Love of Water (FLOW), another environmental group facing off against Enbridge, found that the company lied about how many Upper Peninsula households depend on Line 5 for propane to heat their homes.
Clean Water Action previously quoted Enbridge’s own expert admitting that the shuttering of Line 5 would only raise gas prices a negligible half-a-cent per gallon. This comes from yet another battle between Enbridge and the communities it seemingly doesn’t care about polluting. Enbridge once floated the idea of rerouting some of its pipeline that sits on Indigenous land, rolling out a plan that would snake Line 5 around sections of the Bad River tribe. That’s not good enough for frontline tribes, all of whom in Michigan want Line 5 shuttered. Enbridge was found earlier this year to be trespassing on Bad River land, yet has continued operating there.
This isn’t the only time Enbridge has proven to be a terrible neighbor. “The fact that the governor has revoked Enbridge’s easement and yet they still operate without a valid easement, I think rubs people the wrong way,” McBrearty added. Michigan residents, Indigenous tribes, and all who enjoy the natural beauty of the Great Lakes have made it clear that Line 5 must be shuttered. There is still time to make that opposition known through public comments, attending incredible solidarity events like the “Ways of Water Symposium” at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and even through attending in-person hearings like the forthcoming Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority meeting on Oct. 10 in Lansing.
Some of these comments come straight from templates created by environmental groups like Clean Water Action, which has been in this fight against Enbridge—whose name you might recognize from such scandals as its push for Line 3 and the Dakota Access Pipeline—for nearly a decade. “There's a lot of different interests on our side,” Clean Water Action Michigan Legislative and Policy Director Sean McBrearty explained. “This is really all about protecting the Great Lakes, protecting those [sacred] lands, and also doing what we can to fight the climate crisis, which means being able to shut down old, broken fossil fuel infrastructure that we don't need anymore.”
Campaign Action
Pipelines built in the 1950s, like Line 5, are ticking time bombs for disasters. In fact, Enbridge’s Line 6B, which sent more than 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River after rupturing in 2010, is much younger than Line 5, having been built in the 1980s. McBrearty has observed a change in rhetoric from Enbridge, which initially swore up and down that Line 5 was already safe on its own. Throughout, Enbridge claimed the pipeline was critical for, among other things, heating homes and ensuring affordable gas prices. For Love of Water (FLOW), another environmental group facing off against Enbridge, found that the company lied about how many Upper Peninsula households depend on Line 5 for propane to heat their homes.
Clean Water Action previously quoted Enbridge’s own expert admitting that the shuttering of Line 5 would only raise gas prices a negligible half-a-cent per gallon. This comes from yet another battle between Enbridge and the communities it seemingly doesn’t care about polluting. Enbridge once floated the idea of rerouting some of its pipeline that sits on Indigenous land, rolling out a plan that would snake Line 5 around sections of the Bad River tribe. That’s not good enough for frontline tribes, all of whom in Michigan want Line 5 shuttered. Enbridge was found earlier this year to be trespassing on Bad River land, yet has continued operating there.
This isn’t the only time Enbridge has proven to be a terrible neighbor. “The fact that the governor has revoked Enbridge’s easement and yet they still operate without a valid easement, I think rubs people the wrong way,” McBrearty added. Michigan residents, Indigenous tribes, and all who enjoy the natural beauty of the Great Lakes have made it clear that Line 5 must be shuttered. There is still time to make that opposition known through public comments, attending incredible solidarity events like the “Ways of Water Symposium” at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and even through attending in-person hearings like the forthcoming Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority meeting on Oct. 10 in Lansing.