Update, 08/25, 12:15 p.m. — This story has been updated to include more information on the tunnel project’s consideration by other state authorities.
LANSING — With a week of public comment remaining, Michigan environmental groups say they’re worried that the state isn’t evaluating the full impact of the Line 5 tunnel proposal.
The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy confirmed Friday that their review does not include the impacts of tunneling through the Straits of Mackinac, concerning groups who say more work needs to be done.
EGLE says they’re reviewing the impact on wetlands at either end of the tunnel and the effect on the Great Lakes bottomlands, but won’t be looking into the consequences of the actual tunneling process itself.
EGLE spokesperson Scott Dean says that the department’s authority under the permit reviews “do not include tunneling operations beneath the lakebed.”
Kacey Cook, staff attorney with Traverse-City-based FLOW Water Advocates, says that the limited scope is in conflict with EGLE’s broader mission to protect the Great Lakes.
“The position that most of this… project is beyond the reach of regulatory review runs directly counter to the intent of Michigan’s environmental laws and, of course, to good common sense,” Cook said.
EGLE has so far declined to directly address concerns that the limited scope of the review could conflict with those protection efforts.
“These agencies must consider the full scope of potential impacts of these projects, because those are the things that stand to impact the public — Michiganders,” Cook said.
Zoe Zeerip of the Groundwork Center says that the review is unfair to the people and state of Michigan, who would take ownership of the tunnel upon completion.
“It ignores and undercuts the Great Lakes protection that we have put in place, and ignores our public trust doctrine… leaving us on the hook for any of those consequences,” she said.
Line 5 operator Enbridge has pushed back on claims that the project may be unsafe.
Spokesperson Ryan Duffy said in a statement that “tunneling experts retained by the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority have confirmed the ground conditions are adequate for tunneling.”
Duffy says that the tunnel would conform to all approved specifications and be subject to environmental reviews.
He also noted that the project was approved in 2023 by the Michigan Public Service Commission, which considered factors like the condition and stability of the surrounding rock.
Still, environmental groups say that more factors need to be considered before the state signs off.
“We’re really hoping that EGLE takes a pause and looks at the review process that they’re doing and widens it so it is doing everything they can to protect protect Michiganders — and ensuring that we’re not taking on the burden and doubling down on fossil fuels during a climate crisis,” Zeerip said.
Approval from the state could come later this year, though the project would remain stalled by numerous legal challenges.