Posted Draft EIS Comments

Line 5 is an integral part of the energy sector in North America. Pipelines, are the safest, most effective way to move petroleum products. Placing this pipeline within a tunnel, using proven safe construction methods will benefit North America for the future. The objections to this line are just noise and should have no bearing on its approval. While renewables and other forms of alternative energy have a place at the table, the world is driven by petroleum and until such time that switching our power generation, heating, and transportation to those alternatives is economically feasible, we need to continue using these type of products to power our existence.

As a Michigan citizen, I am deeply concerned that the Line 5 tunnel approval will go through without a full environmental review. Please make sure that adequate time and thought is given to a project that can so drastically effect our precious Great Lakes. Thank you.

As someone who lives in Straits of Mackinac and values the health of the Great Lakes, I support the GLTP. Housing L5 in the tunnel mitigates any risk of a release into Lake Michigan from L5. L5 provides essential energy for the state of MI and as our overall energy needs grow, it is important to maintain safe pipelines for efficient and affordable energy transportation with the least amount of environmental impact.

The claim that MI does not see a drop of oil from L5 is patently false. I am a propane user and 65% of the propane distributed in the UP comes from L5 (55% statewide). L5 feeds refineries in MI and OH for the production of transportation fuels and components for manufacturing. In addition, Michigan oil product is injected into the line at Lewiston, further supporting our state’s energy needs.

Alternatives to L5 (trucking and rail) increase unnecessary risks (collisions with other drivers, weather conditions, etc) and do not mitigate the risk of environmental harm with increased emissions and a greater potential for contamination along Michigan roadways due to accidents. Alternatives to the GLTP do prevent anchor strike but do not mitigate an unrelated release into the water.

As a tribal member, I fully believe the GLTP protects my treaty rights by safeguarding the water and shore line so that I can exercise my rights to fish and pursue subsistence activities that are important to my culture.

The tunnel is a common sense measure that protects the water and environment while allowing L5 to operate safely. The tunnel is a win for the state of Michigan from both an economic and environmental standpoint. This is a piece of infrastructure that can provide unforeseen benefits to the state and its people tomorrow, as new and better technologies emerge, while safeguarding the Great Lakes today.

I am a 65 year old wife, mother and grandmother living in Milwaukee. I have no special scientific or environmental knowledge other than common sense. And it makes no sense to run a gas pipeline underneath one of the world’s biggest freshwater lakes. We in the Midwest have this incredible resource that is becoming more valuable by the day and we want to take a chance on defiling and ruining it? People around the country and the world continue to have less and less fresh water due to the ravages of climate change, and we are not protecting our own vital source of fresh water.
As to Enbridge’s claim that there is “zero chance” of the pipeline leaking, that is preposterous. First of all, they can’t predict the future. Secondly, have they never heard of Murphy’s law? Thirdly, they obviously have not researched other gas pipelines including their own Bad River pipeline which has been leaking for years and they haven’t bothered to fix it.
I find this process discouraging because this project should have been nixed from the very beginning; instead, it is actually being considered. Please think of all the people in all the states that live around, use and enjoy this beautiful lake, then stop and say a big resounding No to this absurd request.
Thank you for your time.

Line 5 as a whole needs to be shut down. The process involved for producing concrete for the tunnel alone will cause so many emissions that overarchingly affect minorities/people of color/ people of a lower socioeconomic status, like Cancer Alley in Louisiana, not to mention the chances of an explosion. Disregarding that, the pipeline itself is already too old and has leaked one too many times. Why would anyone risk the safety of 20% of all freshwaters that exists, especially as water rights and accessibility to clean potable water are ever more contested about? Not only do the Great Lakes provide drinking water, but it also allows for recreation and fishing– a single spill would irrevocably harm everyone who relies upon the Great Lakes and make the United States even more dependent on other countries for resources. And isn’t that the whole reason this decision was rushed? Was to eliminate reliance on Canada for a so-called energy emergency? If this Canadian company has their wish, they will force Michiganders to endanger their natural resources (clean air, soil, water, and food/fish) in favor of supporting a foreign company that does not care about them and only wants profit!

As the climate crisis intensifies, people are looking to Michigan as a sanctuary state– that would change in an instant when a large oil spill occurs. “When” is the key operating word, since Enbridge has already caused multiple spills originating from both Line 5 and Line 6b. And they have never successfully paid or finished cleaning up from the last one, a decade and a half ago! The tunnel was supposed to operate for maybe 50 years; it is a decaying time bomb just waiting to erupt in a giant implosion! Anyone who actually is aware of the tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac does not want it to exist (do you want a pipeline that is hundreds of feet long steel corroding in the Great Lakes and at risk of anchor strikes that would spill oil into all the freshwater and annihilate the rare species that live around us? Knowing we still can’t properly clean up oil spills? The answer is a resounding no!).

And the longer the tunnel exists, the less likely people are to search for alternatives to oil! Yes, Enbridge argues its product is for Michiganders– we’re hardy, resilient folk that find solutions to problems. We need fuel? Well, we can just as easily burn peat or downed trees from the ice storms to power our homes instead of methane. We need oil for transportation? Increase the amount of railroads to decrease reliance on cars. The solutions and alternatives are there, but with people focusing on the tunnel rather than the actual reason for Line 5 stops people from offering other ideas.

To update Line 5 or cover it in a tunnel will be to invite pollution in the form of air, water, soil, and noise. To shut it down would instead promote more recreation and movement (which translates to mental and physical health), preserve our rare animal and plant species, and increase (eco-friendly) tourism, not to mention start making reparations towards indigenous communities and improve the health of businesses in the Great Lakes. Michigan is already leading the country with drinking water standards– let’s prove that us determined locals care about fellow human beings and living creatures.

If Enbridge is already ignoring the treaty rights of native tribes, what will stop them from ignoring legislation that opposes their interest? How far will they go? Besides capitalism, why are they able to threaten the safety and sanctity of our survival? What does Line 5 exist to do, apart from keep Canada happy and transport oil? We don’t need the oil (we are making far too much as it is), and Canada is already pissed at us– let’s keep our citizens and children safe!

I am horrified to hear that the Army Corps of Engineers has fast tracked an approval process for Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel. As a resident of Michigan, I am fully aware of the irrevocable harm that an improperly sited tunnel could cause to the natural environment and economy of Michigan, from our fishing industry to tourism. There is NO energy crisis. There is NO emergency. There is NO need to fastrack this project.

Line 5 is not something the people of Michigan want. We depend on the Great Lakes in every imaginable way. The risk is far too great for the reward here, one spill will destroy not just our waters, but a way of life. All Michiganders have a deep connection to the Great Lakes and if Line 5 were to spill into the Straits of Mackinac, the people of the state will lose their relationship with the water that we so cherish. Further, the oil and gas from Line 5 is not even serving the citizen’s of Michigan or the United States, but the people of Canada. In what world do we prioritize the capital of another nation over the safety and health of ours!? The Great Lakes are a geological miracle, and one of the reasons that people will continue to move to Michigan as climate change begins to force people from other States. Not just Michigan depends on them, but Canada, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. If Line 5 were to leak, all these entities would suffer. Approving Line 5 without Indigenous approval is a violation of Treaty Rights that were signed well before I was born, and it is my duty to stand against things that violate Indigenous Sovereignty. The tribes stepping away from negotiations was not a free pass to move forward, but a signal that they will not consent. If the US government goes forward with approving Line 5 usage, they would be in violation of treaties that well predate the pipe’s existence. The water in the Great Lakes belongs to no one and everyone all at the same time. Line 5 creates a sick profiteering scheme at the expense of all, for the benefit of corporations that will not be held accountable or suffer if the Line leaks oil into the largest fresh water source in the entire world. I beg my representatives and government to not proceed and allow the usage of Line 5. The risk IS far too great, and the consequences will outlast us all. Please do NOT allow Line 5 to operate.

Hi there,

I’m writing to demand that you pause all approvals until a full environmental review is completed for the Line 5 Tunnel. There are many reasons why but in short, we have 21% of the world’s surface freshwater.

In a time when parts of our country are growing in their stressors to access to freshwater and the upcoming decades of growing climate chaos, it is unfathomable that we would incur any kind of risk to jeopardize our most precious resource that our people, our economy and our culture are intrinsically tied to. Enbridge has lied time and time again to the people and our state about their operations in the past, we need a full and thorough permitting process, not shorter, when considering a project in such a sensitive area.

When weighing the risks, it is a no brainer to ensure a full permitting process. Anything less is a slap in the face to Michiganders everywhere.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best,

Line 5 that runs across the mackinaw straight needs to be shut down immediately and embridge needs to use the other pipelines in their network to make up the difference. The line 5 pipeline is already 20+ years past its designed lifespan and according to multiple reports, has had numerous safety violations. Every day that Line 5 is in operation, the natural beauty & wildlife of the great lakes is in serious risk. Fossil fuel companies have time & time again shown themselves to be unacceptable stewards of our environment & natural beauty. Embridge is no exception; shut down line 5 immediately please. We have been talking about this for far too long and counting on disaster not happening. I have attached documentation of viable alternatives that require no tunnel for Line 5 shutdown, averting any environmental issues that rise from tunnel construction.

https://blog.nwf.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/11/files/2018/09/LEI-Enbridge-Line-5-Michigan-Refining_9_12_2018.pdf
https://environmentaldefence.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Closing_Enbridge_Line_5_Pipeline.pdf
https://environmentaldefence.ca/2022/03/04/alternatives-to-line-5-pipeline-exist/
https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/what_you_need_to_know_about_enbridge_line_5_alternatives_study
https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/5_things_you_need_to_know_about_the_enbridge_line_5_shutdown

It is high time to get that pipeline underground, greatly reducing risk of leakage. This also will avoid massive and risky transportation of hydrocarbons by other means.