Line 5 Project In Mackinac Cleared For Movement

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/17/2025) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is moving forward on the permits needed to advance Enbridge's Line 5 crude oil tunnel project under the Straits of Mackinac, the agency announced in a public notice published Tuesday.

President Donald Trump announced earlier in his term emergency environmental reviews of around 600 energy-related projects in order to address an “energy supply situation which could result in an unacceptable hazard to life, a significant loss of property, or an immediate, unforeseen and significant economic hardship” if action isn't taken.

The Army Corps determined Tuesday that the Line 5 project meets that requirement. Labor unions and workforce organizations applauded the decision.

“This is about jobs. It’s about wages. It’s about affordable energy. It’s time to move the permitting process forward so we can move this project forward," said Brent Pilarski, business manager for the Michigan Laborers District Council.

He said residents across both peninsulas rely on Line 5 for affordable home heating fuel and much more. Job makers and workers rely on Line 5 for the fuel they need to make the products residents depend on, to provide good-paying jobs and to power their work sites.

But Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for Oil & Water Don't Mix, called the decision a “sham,” in that a vast majority of the product Line 5 carries is consumed in the Canadian market, which calls into question the “energy emergency.”

“The Army Corps is simply taking orders to not do their job and avoid looking at the actual problems with building this monster,” he said. “Folks shouldn’t forget that a major Trump donor stands to profit off the tunnel getting built, and this apparent tit-for-tat will come at the expense of 20 percent of the world’s fresh, available surface water just because of wealthy fossil fuel corporations’ interests.”

When then Gov. Rick Snyder gave the tunnel project his blessing in 2018, Enbridge set a goal of 2024 to have the 3.6-mile dig completed for its pipeline for light crude oil (See “Enbridge Sets 2024 Goal For Straits Tunnel After Board OKs Deal,” 12/19/18).

Enbridge filed its permit applications to state and federal regulators in April 2020 for the Great Lakes tunnel. In 2021, the state issued its environmental permits. In 2023, the Michigan Public Service Commission approved placing the new pipeline segment in the tunnel. The project still awaits action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on an environmental impact statement and permitting decision. Enbridge re-applied for its state environment permits early this year since its current permits are set to expire in early 2026.

The years of slow movement come as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana NESSEL have pursued legal action. Meanwhile, then-President Joe Biden never showed much enthusiasm for the project and environmentalists continue to angle for the full elimination of the pipeline and a move away from fossil fuels.

The project entails boring a 21-foot-diameter tunnel under the Mackinac Straits for Enbridge's 30-inch-diameter crude oil and natural gas pipeline in order to replace two 20-inch pipelines that rest on the lake bed, all but eliminating the risk of a fractured pipe spilling oil into the Great Lakes.

Under the tunnel project, fill material is expected to be discharged into the Great Lakes.