Supplemental Draft EIS Comments

This attachment is a supporting document to NWF filed comments

This shouldn’t be a hard decision. Fossil foils are causing mass extinction. It’s time to phase out line 5 and transition Michigan to renewable energy. Protect our people and the water.

Please find attached a public comment formally opposing the Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel Project and its Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS), citing procedural and substantive deficiencies which violate NEPA and the APA. The comment explains why the SDEIS is compromised by pre-determined policy bias, includes a "straw man" HDD alternative, and is legally deficient for failing to analyze the Decommissioning (No Action) alternative with energy transition and for deferring the critical analysis of environmental impacts to the Record of Decision. The authors request the USACE withdraw the SDEIS, revise and re-issue it with complete analysis, and extend the public comment period to 45 days.

I listened to the public comment session on December 3, 2025. I share many of the concerns expressed by others at that session, including: concern for Enbridge’s responsible stewardship; Enbridge’s past breaches of public trust related to Line 3 as well as Line 5; the failure to study carefully the environmental impact of HDD in the Great Lakes; the discharge of millions of gallons of wastewater into the Great Lakes; the disregard for treaties with tribal nations; the need to reduce fossil fuel use and avoid new infrastructure in order to mitigate climate change; and Michigan taxpayers’ liability for damages, if and when the Line 5 pipeline, oil tunnel, or HDD tunnel fails.

I’d like to express a cultural concern in this comment. My perspective is that of a student of American Cultures, with a Masters’ degree in American Cultures from the University of Michigan. I do not claim to speak for Indigenous people. But as a white European American, I want to plead for the preservation of the Straits of Mackinac as an important cultural resource that belongs to indigenous peoples of Michigan.

In a recent webinar (“Big Oil vs Big Water: Shutting Down North America’s Most Dangerous Oil Pipeline”) President Whitney Gravelle of the Bay Mills Indian Community spoke of the spiritual significance of the Straits. The Straits hold particular significance in indigenous myth. President Gravelle shared that the Great Lakes are the heart of the turtle that is Turtle Island (North America).

The knowledge encapsulated in this beautiful cultural understanding of the lakes and the Straits is underlined by modern science. The waters and currents of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron flow back and forth under the Straits, reversing direction between the two lakes every one to two days (see https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/straits/). Indeed, the two lakes are considered one lake hydrologically (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_MichiganHuron). The action of the waters is very much like a heart pumping, with Lakes Michigan and Huron acting as two chambers of one heart (https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/straits/graphics/surface.gif).

Enbridge and its advocates believe the continuation of Line 5 will create more economic benefit than environmental or other harm. However, the indigenous story of the Great Lakes makes very clear the horrific scale of desecration of the proposed oil tunnel, whether using HDD or not, to be drilled beneath the lake bed at the Straits. Leaving aside the environmental damage and dangerous risks of the Enbridge project, any tunnel would be a stake driven deep into the sacred heart of the land called Turtle Island (North America).

It is past time we listen to our indigenous neighbors with respect, honor their treaty rights, and preserve their cultural and ceremonial expression (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_on_the_Rights_of_Indigenous_Peoples).

Thank you. Miigwech.

Enbridge cannot be trusted to perform drilling in the straits of Mackinac, they have a bad track record with the line 3 expansion. If there is a spill it could contaminate the Great Lakes and surrounding water. If this happens it’s permanent and irreversible damage to one of the most important natural resources not only to Michigan but the entire United States. If the largest fresh water bodies in the world were contaminated for an oil pipeline it would be an incredibly tragedy. Consider the value of this project against the potential risk for the state as a whole and its entire future. Our access to fresh water, the historical and biological value, and the beauty of this state are all at risk and are infinitely more important than short term profits. I am a resident of Michigan who was born here and lived here my whole life, I’m incredibly proud of my state and I would like to be able to continue to be proud of where I come from.

Don't let them drill. They don't have the skills. The people of MI don't want Enbridge. It doesn't benefit us, it only benefits the corporation and its shareholders.

Attached please Flow Water Advocates, Sierra Club, and Surfrider Foundation's Comments on the Line 5 Tunnel Project Supplemental DEIS on the HDD Installation Alternative,
LRE-2010-00463-56-A19.

Thank you,
Kacey Cook

I am in support of the Line 5 tunnel, but I am opposed to the new proposal of horizontal drilling for Line 5 on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac (Mackinaw City side). The proposed path for this crosses multiple areas of public trails, Headlands International Dark Sky Park, public lands used for recreational purposes; hiking, hunting, ORV, etc. The noise pollution that this will have will disrupt the people who live nearby, the tranquil setting of The Dark Sky Park, the wildlife in the area, etc. The blockage of two roads could be potentially deadly in the case of an emergency for those living on the west side, or those visitors needing assistance at Wilderness State Park, etc. The blockage would also disrupt access for the many tourists and locals who visit the Headlands / Dark Sky Park and access to our Lake Michigan public beaches. Again, I am in support of the Line 5 tunnel, but I am opposed to using horizontal drilling to accomplish this project.

This last minute bait and switch by Enbridge and the US Army Corps deeply concerns me and I am opposed to the additional drilling in the Straits considering the track record, with 3 frac-outs in the Line 3 expansion. To continue would endanger our natural resources that so many communities, human and more than human, depend on. Specifically, Michigan taxpayers would be liable for the potential harm caused by a foreign company, which is grossly unjust.