July 01, 2025
Detroit – On Monday June 30, the Michigan Climate Action Network (MiCAN) and the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) submitted comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, calling on the agency to include climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) considerations in its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding the proposed Line 5 Tunnel Project under the Straits of Mackinac. The Army Corps’ draft EIS excluded review of any foreseeable climate impacts or projected increase in greenhouse gas emissions that would result if Enbridge is granted approval to build a tunnel under the Great Lakes.
The aging dual pipelines currently operating across the Mackinac Straits is a segment of Enbridge’s Line 5 that transports half a million barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Sarnia, Canada. The Army Corps is required to complete an EIS under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) before deciding whether to approve the tunnel project to replace the dual pipelines.
“The Army Corps has got to get this right,” said David Scott, Senior Attorney at ELPC. “The Corps incorrectly excluded climate change and greenhouse gas considerations from its draft environmental impact statement based solely on President Trump’s Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy. We believe the National Environmental Policy Act, the Corps’ obligation to consider the public interest, and judicial precedents require the Corps to analyze greenhouse gas and climate effects from this tunnel project, which would ensure and prolong Enbridge’s delivery of fossil fuels through the Straits of Mackinac to refineries in Sarnia, Canada. These laws require the Corps to use reliable data and undertake scientific and technical analysis to make informed and reasoned decisions that protect the quality of the human environment and the public interest. But the Corps has done the opposite here, ignoring these important issues and legal requirements entirely.”
Additionally, MiCAN and ELPC asked the Army Corps to modify the narrowly-tailored Purpose and Need Statement in the draft EIS to include alternative means of transport that do not require transporting fossil fuels through the Straits of Mackinac. Similarly, the groups called on the Corps to consider in the “alternatives analysis” section to scenarios involving the pipeline crossing the Straits ceasing operations, consistent with Michigan policymakers’ decisions. Finally, MiCAN and ELPC object to the Corps’ use of “special emergency permitting procedures” to substantially compress public opportunity to review and comment on the voluminous draft environmental impact statement.
“Under Trump’s so-called ‘energy emergency’ that directed the tunnel permit for fast-track, the Army Corps has incorrectly limited public input and ignored the reality of climate change,” said Dr. Denise Keele, MiCAN’s Executive Director. “It is the Corps’ responsibility to do a full life cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, both the upstream emissions from oil extraction and the downstream emissions from refining and combusting the oil, and put a dollar figure on just what that oil is costing our society. Instead, the process silences Michiganders who overwhelmingly oppose the project and attempts to lock us into building even more deadly fossil fuel infrastructure, all so a Canadian corporation can profit while sticking Michigan taxpayers with the bill.”