Posted Draft EIS Comments

I am asking that USACE pause all approvals of the Line 5 tunnel until a full environmental review is completed—including assessments of climate impacts, Indigenous rights, and public health.

The Line 5 tunnel project has not undergone a comprehensive risk assessment, which is crucial for a project that poses risks to the Great Lakes, our climate, and our future.

I am a resident of Michigan that enjoys the Great Lakes on a regular basis, but even more importantly there are many citizens who rely heavily on the Great Lakes for their livelihood. A spill or mistake of any sort as it relates to this pipeline and tunnel could be catastrophic for those impacted in any way by the Great Lakes. At the VERY LEAST, a pause to ensure the appropriate environmental review is done helps ensure the right decision is made for humans and non-humans alike.

I strongly urge you to not be swayed by the false energy emergency this administration has fabricated for political gain. Please think about what your future selves and your kind and loving children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, god-children will be proud to know you did to protect the beautiful, connected world we could live in, if only we choose.

Line 5 should be removed, and not replaced with any alternative design. The proposed Line 5 tunnel is unneeded, risky, and caters to an antiquated source of energy that contaminates the local environment and contributes to the global climate crisis that endangers people around the world. Michigan's economy would benefit more by decommissioning and removing Line 5 than replacing it in an encased tunnel. The tunnel technology is unproven, and a foolish, reckless plan for the unstable rock beneath the Mackinaw Straits. And Enbridge has proven its incompetence for design, maintenance, emergency response, and restitution on many occasions, including the continuing tragedy along the Kalamazoo River in Southwest Michigan, which will never be the same.

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the Line 5 tunnel project. The Great Lakes region harbors the largest fresh water supply in the world, and the Line 5 tunnel would gamble with and put in jeopardy this uniquely important resource. Access to fresh water will be increasingly important as human-caused climate change threatens human civilization around the world.
Additionally, I am concerned that not enough planning and oversight is going into the project, heightening the potential for a catastrophic oil spill in our Great Lakes. Given the high stakes of this project, a comprehensive risk assessment should be a non-negotiable component of this project, if the sponsors are serious about protecting the communities that live around the Great Lakes. According to one source, "An oil spill in the Great Lakes would be catastrophic for drinking water, wildlife, and the economy. More than 1.3 million jobs, equating to $82 billion in wages, are directly tied to the Great Lakes."
Additionally, the experts that have reviewed Enbridge's plans hav expressed that the logistics of placing a tunnel under the lakebed are complicated, dangerous, and technically challenging. This would also pose significant and unnecessary risks to worker safety.
Moreover, many viable options for energy alternatives such as solar and wind power are becoming increasingly viable. The government should invest more in energy sources that do not pose irreversible threats to people and the environment, while moving away from outdated, non-renewable energy sources that cannot sustain us indefinitely into the future.

Please see attached letter for comments in support of the Great Lakes Tunnel from the Michigan Propane Gas Association

I am deeply concerned about the proposed Line 5 tunnel. I heard a tunnel expert speak on the subject and the potential for methane gas in the tunnel poses a serious risk of explosion. The
Great Lakes are too precious to risk a catastrophic oil spill. The construction of the tunnel would also result in major environmental destruction. Line 5 needs to be shut down. The current line is of very advanced age. The proposed tunnel is not a solution.

My credentials are not scientific; my authority to speak derives from my 35 years of residence in Michigan. This is my home.

I speak as a resident very concerned that the US Army Corps of Engineers has not thoroughly considered the short-term nor the long-term impacts of allowing a Canadian company to construct a tunnel under the Great Lakes to carry oil.

The potential impacts of the construction process need to be considered, including the possibility of accidents.
The potential impacts of the operation of such a pipeline-in-a-tunnel need to be considered, including the possibility of accidents.

The risks associated with construction and operation need to be weighed against the potential benefits of construction and operation. Right now, I am experiencing the negative impact of our changing climate--in the form of polluted air drifting down from Canada, filled with particles that I don't want to breathe. This has a hugely negative impact on my ability to conduct my daily activities safely.

This smokey air underlines for me that climate change is happening now and needs to be reversed--or at least abated--to the maximum extent possible.
Continuing to facilitate the extraction of fossil fuel in Canada and continuing to allow it to flow under the Great Lakes so that people (mostly outside the US) can burn it--all of this contributes to negative change in our climate. The US Army Corps of Engineers needs to take this into account.

This proposed tunnel, of course, also threatens Michigan's economy (fishing, safe drinking water, recreation, tourism), our environment in general, and Native Americans' treaty rights and their ability to live sustainably in their ancestral homeland.

But, most of all, this tunnel is part of an antiquated and dangerous way of life, based on fossil fuel, that we are moving away from. Private companies and consumers are moving away from fossil fuel. Governmental entities at some levels are moving away from fossil fuel.

I urge the US Army Corps of Engineers to think beyond the false "emergency" that was declared, and to think of generations ahead who will ask why it took us so long to stop facilitating use of fossil fuels.

Just think--the Line 5 pipeline was built in 1953, back when we had little idea that we were heating up our planet in destructive ways, back when Mt. Shasta (near where my mom grew up in the 1930s-50s) was always snow-covered. I remember how shocking it was to see the peak a bare brown.

Keep in mind that the decisions the US Army Corps of Engineers makes now will affect my--and your--grandchildren, their children, and ensuing generations. You can leave a legacy of safety and forward thinking, or leave a threat or, worse, devastate our Great Lakes and leave us poorer, poisoned and hotter still.

This pipeline will always be a threat to the environment of the Great Lakes ecosystem and our largest freshwater resources. The damage this could cause could be devastating to the US and Canada!

From what I’ve read about this replacement that is necessary, the people involved need to decide the importance of this replacement to everyone concerned, and then come to an agreement that won’t destroy but will improve the situation for everyone. There’s no unity here with the concerned groups!

I am writing in opposition to the Line 5 Tunnel.

The supposed "energy emergency" used to justify fast-tracking this project is false and politically motivated, and should not override public safety and environmental protections. Approving this tunnel locks us into decades of fossil fuel dependency, exacerbating the climate and public health crises; it must be thoroughly assessed for its greenhouse gas emissions and health impacts before proceeding.

Additionally, the fact that an oil spill in the Great Lakes would be catastrophic for drinking water, wildlife, and Michigan’s economy should also be taken into consideration. More than 1.3 million jobs, equating to $82 billion in wages, are directly tied to the Great Lakes.

Thank you for considering my comments.

We need to update to transport fuels. The big thing needed is NOT DRAG anchors over the pipes. I they do, fine the daylights out of them and / imprison them!