By Lily Guiney
Gongwer News Service
Following calls from environmental groups, indigenous tribes and local businesses urging consideration of a Michigan Supreme Court decision from July, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Wednesday that her administration would review permits it issued earlier this year for the Line 5 tunnel project in the Straits of Mackinac.
In a Wednesday press release, Whitmer and Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy Director Phil Roos cited the new precedent established in the July 31 MSC opinion, which struck down previously issued Public Service Commission permits for the tunnel, as the reason for a widened scope of review. The state did not have a legal basis to conduct the review prior to the high court’s ruling this summer.
“Before issuing the resource permit in July, EGLE reviewed the cultural and environmental impacts within our statutory scope as well as an analysis of alternatives. With the Michigan Supreme Court invalidating the MPSC’s permit because its analysis was too narrow, we understand that EGLE’s permit may need further review through the legal process,” Roos said in the statement. “Until all those legal questions are resolved, conditions in EGLE’s permit prevent construction of the tunnel entrance from moving forward.”
Whitmer described Enbridge Energy’s dual pipelines running across the straits as a “ticking time bomb” which she’s been attempting to remove since her first day in office. With just under three months left in her tenure as governor, she said she’s “taking every action (she) can to shut them down” as her original stop order and ensuing negotiations continue to be the subject of litigation.
“The Michigan Supreme Court has made clear that the state must more thoroughly scrutinize the environmental consequences of the proposed tunnel and the alternatives to it,” Whitmer said in a statement. “At the same time, Enbridge needs to stop asking Michigan to wait for a tunnel that could be a decade or longer away and start pursuing alternatives now that can get oil out of the Straits within months. Michigan has waited long enough. We cannot put the Great Lakes at risk for another decade while waiting for a solution that may never come.”
The governor also wrote to Enbridge CEO Gregory Ebel on Wednesday to emphasize the changed nature of the tunnel permitting process since the July 31 MSC ruling. In her letter to Ebel, Whitmer said the Canadian company’s argument that the tunnel would address concerns about the pipeline “was difficult enough to accept before July 31” and “is untenable now.”
“Even under an optimistic scenario, it is difficult to see an operating tunnel earlier than 10 years from now. And it may never be built. Enbridge cannot use the promise of a tunnel to justify putting our most precious resources at risk by pumping oil through the Great Lakes for another decade,” Whitmer said in the letter to Ebel. “For years, you have asked Michigan to accept the risk of the existing pipelines today in exchange for the promise of a safer tunnel tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes.”
Despite ongoing appeals over a federal ruling which held Michigan could not enforce an order revoking the pipeline’s 1958 easement, the premise of which Whitmer said is “preposterous,” the state is seeking to assert its right to the bottomlands of the straits where the pipeline sits, sooner rather than later.
Whitmer said it’s long past time for Enbridge to find a feasible alternative to the pipeline, particularly in light of the recent Line 5 rupture in Wisconsin, which caused more than a million gallons of natural gas liquids to escape after damage by a truck accident.
“That alternative may not preserve Enbridge’s current market share or be as profitable for your shareholders. But those are not reasons to expose the Great Lakes to another decade of unthinkable risk. Too much is at stake,” she said. “The Great Lakes are home to 21% of the world’s fresh surface water, supply drinking water for more than 40 million people, and support a $9.3 trillion regional economy, including hundreds of thousands of jobs in Michigan. For eight years, Enbridge has told Michigan to wait. Wait for the courts. Wait for the permits. Wait for the tunnel. Michigan has waited long enough.”
In a statement responding to Whitmer and Roos’s announcement, Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy reiterated the company’s commitment to the tunnel project and emphasized the reviews existing permits have already undergone.
“Let’s be clear — we already have an agreement with the State of Michigan to advance the Great Lakes Tunnel Project. Without years of litigation and political intervention, this project would be moving toward completion,” Duffy said. “(EGLE) has reissued key environmental permits for the project. Also, after a six-year review, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the project to move forward. The Corps’ Environmental Impact Statement represents the highest standard of environmental review required for major critical energy and infrastructure projects. We continue to stand ready to meet with the Governor to look at ways that protect Michigan’s natural resources while ensuring the continued safe operation of critical energy infrastructure.”
Oil and Water Don’t Mix Coalition, the primary opposition campaign to the pipeline and, later, the tunnel project, issued a statement saying advocates were “relieved” to hear Whitmer say EGLE would be reviewing its permits on Wednesday.
“We fully support the governor and EGLE Director Phil Roos halting a key tunnel environmental permit and reopening the review under the standard the court laid down on July 31. That ruling was not a technicality,” spokesperson Levi Teitel said. “It restored the Michigan Environmental Protection Act and the public trust as the measure of what the state may permit in the Straits of Mackinac. The governor is now using it exactly as it was meant to be used, and expanding the scope of review to match.”
The coalition’s statement said Enbridge has spent the better part of the past decade providing “weak promise(s) about concrete under the lake, someday” and that Whitmer’s actions on Wednesday represent the governor “keeping her promise to protect the Great Lakes.”
“From the beginning, the governor has said she wanted the surest legal footing to get this pipeline out of the water. Reasonable people have argued about strategy,” Teitel continued. “Today she is standing on the ground the Supreme Court gave her, and we stand with her and applaud her continued commitment to protecting the Great Lakes.”
Whitmer’s office said the state is “reviewing its options for proceeding in a manner consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision and Michigan law.”
Gongwer News Service
Following calls from environmental groups, indigenous tribes and local businesses urging consideration of a Michigan Supreme Court decision from July, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Wednesday that her administration would review permits it issued earlier this year for the Line 5 tunnel project in the Straits of Mackinac.
In a Wednesday press release, Whitmer and Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy Director Phil Roos cited the new precedent established in the July 31 MSC opinion, which struck down previously issued Public Service Commission permits for the tunnel, as the reason for a widened scope of review. The state did not have a legal basis to conduct the review prior to the high court’s ruling this summer.
“Before issuing the resource permit in July, EGLE reviewed the cultural and environmental impacts within our statutory scope as well as an analysis of alternatives. With the Michigan Supreme Court invalidating the MPSC’s permit because its analysis was too narrow, we understand that EGLE’s permit may need further review through the legal process,” Roos said in the statement. “Until all those legal questions are resolved, conditions in EGLE’s permit prevent construction of the tunnel entrance from moving forward.”
Whitmer described Enbridge Energy’s dual pipelines running across the straits as a “ticking time bomb” which she’s been attempting to remove since her first day in office. With just under three months left in her tenure as governor, she said she’s “taking every action (she) can to shut them down” as her original stop order and ensuing negotiations continue to be the subject of litigation.
“The Michigan Supreme Court has made clear that the state must more thoroughly scrutinize the environmental consequences of the proposed tunnel and the alternatives to it,” Whitmer said in a statement. “At the same time, Enbridge needs to stop asking Michigan to wait for a tunnel that could be a decade or longer away and start pursuing alternatives now that can get oil out of the Straits within months. Michigan has waited long enough. We cannot put the Great Lakes at risk for another decade while waiting for a solution that may never come.”
The governor also wrote to Enbridge CEO Gregory Ebel on Wednesday to emphasize the changed nature of the tunnel permitting process since the July 31 MSC ruling. In her letter to Ebel, Whitmer said the Canadian company’s argument that the tunnel would address concerns about the pipeline “was difficult enough to accept before July 31” and “is untenable now.”
“Even under an optimistic scenario, it is difficult to see an operating tunnel earlier than 10 years from now. And it may never be built. Enbridge cannot use the promise of a tunnel to justify putting our most precious resources at risk by pumping oil through the Great Lakes for another decade,” Whitmer said in the letter to Ebel. “For years, you have asked Michigan to accept the risk of the existing pipelines today in exchange for the promise of a safer tunnel tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes.”
Despite ongoing appeals over a federal ruling which held Michigan could not enforce an order revoking the pipeline’s 1958 easement, the premise of which Whitmer said is “preposterous,” the state is seeking to assert its right to the bottomlands of the straits where the pipeline sits, sooner rather than later.
Whitmer said it’s long past time for Enbridge to find a feasible alternative to the pipeline, particularly in light of the recent Line 5 rupture in Wisconsin, which caused more than a million gallons of natural gas liquids to escape after damage by a truck accident.
“That alternative may not preserve Enbridge’s current market share or be as profitable for your shareholders. But those are not reasons to expose the Great Lakes to another decade of unthinkable risk. Too much is at stake,” she said. “The Great Lakes are home to 21% of the world’s fresh surface water, supply drinking water for more than 40 million people, and support a $9.3 trillion regional economy, including hundreds of thousands of jobs in Michigan. For eight years, Enbridge has told Michigan to wait. Wait for the courts. Wait for the permits. Wait for the tunnel. Michigan has waited long enough.”
In a statement responding to Whitmer and Roos’s announcement, Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy reiterated the company’s commitment to the tunnel project and emphasized the reviews existing permits have already undergone.
“Let’s be clear — we already have an agreement with the State of Michigan to advance the Great Lakes Tunnel Project. Without years of litigation and political intervention, this project would be moving toward completion,” Duffy said. “(EGLE) has reissued key environmental permits for the project. Also, after a six-year review, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the project to move forward. The Corps’ Environmental Impact Statement represents the highest standard of environmental review required for major critical energy and infrastructure projects. We continue to stand ready to meet with the Governor to look at ways that protect Michigan’s natural resources while ensuring the continued safe operation of critical energy infrastructure.”
Oil and Water Don’t Mix Coalition, the primary opposition campaign to the pipeline and, later, the tunnel project, issued a statement saying advocates were “relieved” to hear Whitmer say EGLE would be reviewing its permits on Wednesday.
“We fully support the governor and EGLE Director Phil Roos halting a key tunnel environmental permit and reopening the review under the standard the court laid down on July 31. That ruling was not a technicality,” spokesperson Levi Teitel said. “It restored the Michigan Environmental Protection Act and the public trust as the measure of what the state may permit in the Straits of Mackinac. The governor is now using it exactly as it was meant to be used, and expanding the scope of review to match.”
The coalition’s statement said Enbridge has spent the better part of the past decade providing “weak promise(s) about concrete under the lake, someday” and that Whitmer’s actions on Wednesday represent the governor “keeping her promise to protect the Great Lakes.”
“From the beginning, the governor has said she wanted the surest legal footing to get this pipeline out of the water. Reasonable people have argued about strategy,” Teitel continued. “Today she is standing on the ground the Supreme Court gave her, and we stand with her and applaud her continued commitment to protecting the Great Lakes.”
Whitmer’s office said the state is “reviewing its options for proceeding in a manner consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision and Michigan law.”
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