Supplemental Draft EIS Comments

As it relates to the proposed construction under line 5 oil, I believe this to be a reckless money grab. The Company heading the construction is notoriously unsafe. The potential harm to the great lakes, the surrounding ecosystems, and citizens of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada is insurmountable. One day we will realize they cost of greed, I hope are not past the point of no return.

I strongly and vehemently oppose any fossil fuel extraction or infrastructure projects in the Great Lakes region, especially in the sensitive Straits of Mackinac area. These projects are in service of a foreign private entity that carries no responsibility for current climate change effects already happening in Michigan, and they will not bear responsibility for future impacts — that are a statistical probability — such as spills, leaks, explosions, etc. Deny ANY and ALL permits for Enbridge, and other entities that would trade our fossil fuel free future for short term gains, profits, and convenience. I am a lifelong Michigan resident and the biological and environmental significance and importance of our Great Lakes region cannot be overstated.

I do not believe there should be any drilling under the Great Lakes. This ecosystem also provides water to my home. I do not want my environment damaged by unneeded drilling. Bring us more green energy instead.

The state has no business extending permission concerning this pipeline of any sort threw the great lakes waterway by a company that has the poor environmental record the Canadian company has shown the citizens of michigan.

stop ruining shit

Enbridge has repeatedly proven to be a bad actor; millions have been spent on advertising campaigns in the state of Michigan to obfuscate the truth: Enbridge is unreliable, operating illegally, and incapable of safely performing HDD drilling in the Great Lakes. With 90% of the United States surface freshwater at risk, a foreign energy company with a track record of frac-outs, spillage, and coverups, should not be permitted to operate, much less begin new drilling projects. There is far too much at stake. The economic output of the Great Lakes is estimated to be in the billions and enabling Enbridge to continue is not a feasible decision. The impact of an oil spill in the Great Lakes would outlast every one of us - ruining the lives of millions, the lives of people we know, the lives of our children, and children yet to be born. There is no future with Enbridge scheming in our waters, and Michigan citizens are better off beginning the difficult journey to separate from our foreign energy dependence, toward more sovereign infrastructure development. Alternative pathways exist and can be developed, yet Enbridge continues to act entirely in their own favor, careless of the risk. They have shown time and time again, they cannot be trusted and are not interested in any way forward but the one they propose. It’s undemocratic, shameful, and economically infeasible, with potentially devastating consequences for the lives and health of our children and our children’s children.

The Michigan Climate Action Network opposes the Line 5 Tunnel Project and the inadequacy of the USACE Supplemental Draft EIS on horizontal directional drilling (HDD).

The supplemental EIS admits the HDD method is based on inherently high risks which can be used to argue that the entire project's environmental impact statement is incomplete and inadequate. The report itself repeatedly cites geological uncertainties about the rock and water under the lake and the proposal to manage (certain to occur) problems through ‘adaptive management’ further proves the environmental impacts are inevitable and turns the Great Lakes into a testing ground. A project based on such extensive unknowns fails to provide both decision makers and the public with a full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts.

The project directly contradicts the U.S. and global climate commitments and approving a project when the risks are this high (and poorly understood) violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA requires a complete and honest review of all environmental impacts. A complete and honest environmental analysis would require a deep dive into the geographies of the construction sites, a full acknowledgment of tribal opposition and the disproportionate risk to Tribal Nations whose treaty rights, cultural resources, and sustenance are tied directly to the health of the Straits. This incomplete analysis has direct climate policy conflicts and has potential to endanger the largest freshwater source in the world.

The lack of public notice coupled with the fast tracking of the review processes has concerned us as an environmental justice organization, because this project not only poses direct ecological disturbances, it undermines the already existing impacts that fossil fuel infrastructure has on our health and changing climate. These cumulative risks require a more equitable approach. Therefore, we demand that the USACE perform an adequate analysis of the HDD alternative and deny the entire Line 5 Tunnel Project due to risks level and insufficient information.

The audacity to potentially poison the freshest water source we have is insane. Money and corporate greed over the safety and wellbeing of long maintained ecosystems and citizens!

Learn from the past, trust the science, and protect our lakes. Please allow us to hand down our freshwater heritage to future Michiganders and do not allow the construction of this ticking time bomb tunnel.

The Great Lakes hold a large percentage of the world’s fresh water. Line 5 in any form represents an unnecessary threat to that water, and its necessity to human and animal life and likely billions in revenue to the US should it be polluted.
The only way to guarantee no spills from Line 5 is for it to not be there, period.