I feel that more studies need to be done, not only on the geology, currents and potential hazards and risks, but also I the fact that we truly do not use the products here in Michigan to need this project. The public deserves transparency and longer open comment period. Thank you for protecting our greatest resource- water.
The Midland Business Alliance (MBA) is a combined chamber of commerce and economic development organization and, as such, we represent 3,000 business in the Midland community. We strongly encourage the USACE’s approval of the permits for construction of the Great Lakes Tunnel.
Midland is 184 miles south of the Straits of Mackinac. And yet, we see the construction of the Great Lakes Tunnel as critical. We’re all aware of the economic impact of just the propane delivery to both the upper and lower peninsulas; no other delivery alternative is as safe or efficient. We also recognize the value and economic impact of the jobs the construction will create, and the tax revenue to the state from those jobs.
While of course the economic impact is important to the MBA, we are also vocal proponents of our natural resources. The MBA strongly believes our natural resources must be protected and believes the rules and regulations that protect the environment need to be common-sense oriented and based on sound science. Construction of the Great Lakes Tunnel, which will be approximately 100 feet below the lakebed, is the right step to protect our Great Lakes, as the risk of an environmental spill is zero.
Both the economy and environment are critical and protecting both can be done simultaneously. In May of 2020, Midland suffered a catastrophic dam failure event. We’ve seen the resulting calamity when infrastructure and natural resource considerations are not adequately balanced. The Great Lakes Tunnel represents the necessary balance.
By moving forward with developing and permitting the Great Lakes Tunnel, Enbridge is complying with provisions of agreements made with the State of Michigan and per Michigan legislative action (PA359 of 2018).
The Midland Business Alliance encourages your approval of Enbridge’s application to build the Great Lakes Tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac and replace the Line 5 pipeline within it.
Best Regards,
Diane Middleton, IOM
Vice President of Advocacy, Midland Business Alliance
Not only does it pose serious health risks, it is in sacred Native American land!!
If there were a break & discharge, it would be an environmental disaster with no recovery.
Water is our precious resource.
NO TO LINE 5!!!!
The people running Canadian energy company Enbridge is obvious. Pipeline 3 would bring tar sands (31% more toxic than regular oil) from Alberta to Wisconsin. What is to stop them from using Line 5 in the Michigan straits for the same purpose? Aside from oil, building an underground tunnel through a tricky ecosystem is a gamble at best. Damage just from construction could take years for recovery. Have Enbridge make a gamble in Canada, not Michigan.
I urge you to reject (deny) the fast-tracking of the Line 5 Oil Tunnel project for several reasons, including environmental issues and climate change, protection of water (and land and air), the need to recognize Treaty Rights, the unproven safety of this never-before-constructed tunnel plan, and the purpose and scope of this NEW fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when we must turn away from fossil fuels — and we have Michigan-made alternatives.
Michigan’s two peninsulas are shaped by over 20% of the world’s fresh surface water, which makes us water stewards in a way that few states can claim. Rushing through environmental and safety impacts of this unproven, multi-year tunnel project puts Michigan’s future at risk. Please, protect fresh water at this time when climate change will create more demands on the Great Lakes.
We must move away from any new fossil fuel infrastructure if we are to ensure the health and safety of our communities and mitigate the challenges of climate change — and we can! Michigan has ample solar and wind capabilities. The USACE should be engineering a renewable energy future, since our planet surpassed the 1.5 degree Celsius tipping point in 2024, and if we don’t stop mining, processing, and burning fossil fuels, we will instigate the worst of what is predicted with a longer range 1.5 degree increase in global temperature.
None of Michigan’s federally registered tribes support the Line 5 Oil Tunnel plan, and the USACE needs to listen, carefully, to Indigenous communities who have Treaty Rights that allow all Indigenous communities and their governing bodies valuable, legal input in how land, water, and air are managed.
Finally, this multi-year tunnel project will permanently disrupt and disfigure the bottomlands of the Great Lakes, and with the bottomlands as dynamic and ever-changing as they are, there is no guarantee that this tunnel project will be safe and reliable. At best, it is an unproven plan that some tunnel experts have called dangerous (for its propensity toward explosions). You have this information, of course, which has been presented by MiCAN, Flow Water Advocates, Clean Water Action, and UM’s Environmental Law & Policy Center.
I urge you to take into consideration all carefully studied and presented environmental and construction risk assessments that Michigan’s many environmental groups and water advocates have provided and will continue to provide.
We are the Great Lakes state. At minimum, the public expects the USACE to act as careful, diligent stewards of the largest body of fresh surface water on the planet.
The Great Lakes state doesn’t directly, significantly benefit from Enbridge’s tar sands bearing Line 5 dual pipelines now — and we certainly won’t benefit from any future Oil Tunnel in the future.
Approving this project — especially in any express, rushed manner — is risky and irresponsible.
The public is counting on the USACE to demonstrate integrity and restraint, to do what is right for Michigan now and into the future.
All the best,
Maryann Lesert