Enbridge says it wants to build a Line 5 tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac to protect the Great Lakes. Or is it because the promise of a tunnel keeps old Line 5 operating? Line 5 earns almost $2 million/day, so it will earn Enbridge $8 billion since the tunnel was proposed in 2018 until its expected completion in 2031.
In April, the Supreme Court ruled that Michigan’s attempt to shut down Line 5 belongs in Michigan courts. Built in 1953, Line 5 is failing, so Enbridge proposed a tunnel to repair 4 of its 645 miles. Enbridge claims a tunnel will protect the Great Lakes, when it actually does the opposite.
This first-of-its-kind tunnel bored directly below still-operating Line 5, is a six-year undertaking, but Enbridge skips over the danger of building the tunnel, as though it already existed.
Enbridge also skips over Line 5’s other 641 miles that have leaked 35 times. The Coast Guard considers the U.P.’s 90-mile stretch along U.S. 2 by Lake Michigan to be at highest risk for a spill. The tunnel Band-Aid is meant to keep all of Line 5 going.
Canada’s pipeline from Alberta branches into Line 5 across Michigan and Line 78 around Chicago. Both lines cross the St. Clair River near Detroit to reach Sarnia refineries. Enbridge chooses to risk the Great Lakes when it has a safer land route to Sarnia. Line 78 was rebuilt with excess capacity after the 2010 Kalamazoo spill, so could carry most of Line 5‘s oil today, sparing the Great Lakes.
In 2018, outgoing Gov. Rick Snyder made a deal with Enbridge which allows Line 5 to operate (beyond its intended 50 years) until the tunnel is completed. The agreement also allows Enbridge to back out without penalty, but if the tunnel is built, Michigan taxpayers must own it for 99 years, despite 90% of the oil going to Canada. Quite a deal.
Boring a 20-foot diameter tunnel in fractured claystone — while Line 5 operates directly above — is a recipe for disaster.
But even if nothing went wrong, just building a tunnel harms Michigan’s environment and tourist economy. A boring machine must be built and imported, then traffic congestion, huge cranes and bentonite waste slurry would turn our water wonderland into a construction dumpsite. An accident like the 1971 methane explosion that killed 21 workers in a Lake Huron tunnel would be catastrophic. Tunnel expert Brian O’Mara is “very concerned about a methane explosion occurring” as pockets of methane are in the Straits.
An oil company should not decide the fate of the world’s largest freshwater system — risked for profit despite alternatives. It is simply not theirs to risk. Michigan’s last chance to end Enbridge exploitation is to stop Line 5 today.
Input on the tunnel permit is open until June 30 at EGLE-Public-Comments@Michigan.gov. Urge Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (517-335-7858) to protect the Great Lakes for Michigan, for the tribes, indeed for the world.