Permit for Line 5 tunnel under Straits of Mackinac approved with conditions - UpNorthLive.com

Permit for Line 5 tunnel under Straits of Mackinac approved with conditions | WPBN

STRAITS OF MACKINAC, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- A major development happened on Friday in the Line 5 saga.

After years of planning, debate, protests and legal battles, the Michigan Public Services Commission approved Enbridge Energy's permit to replace the existing Line 5 at the Straits of Mackinac by building a tunnel beneath the channel.

Friday's MPSC meeting drew more attention than most because of the permit approval.

With hundreds watching in-person and online, the commission gave Enbridge the green light.

"A leak from those lines would be even worse than Enbridge’s 2010 oil spill into Talmadge Creek in the Kalamazoo River, the worst inland oil spill in U.S. history," said MPSC chairperson Dan Scripps

"Among the broad range of options and alternatives considered, relocating the Straits segment of Line 5 to a tunnel beneath the lakebed was the preferred option," Scripps said.

In his remarks, Scripps also referenced an incident in 2018 when an anchor struck Line 5.

The commission would have originally decided on the permit in 2022, but they instead continued the case, asking for more information from Enbridge.

The full order is 350-pages long and, as MPSC engineer Travis Warner explained, has restrictions.

"No third-party utilities may be co-located in the tunnel without further application to and approval by the commission," Warner said.

“The order requires Enbridge to provide the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority with a detailed risk management plan for the tunnel’s design," Warner said.

Scripps thanked many people and groups for their part in the process and drew and audible reaction upon thanking Tribal Nations.

Earlier this year, representatives from several Tribal Nations throughout the Great Lakes region sent a letter to the United Nations urging that Line 5 be decommissioned due to the risks associated with a potential leak at the Straits of Mackinac.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has recommended that Line 5 be decommissioned and stated that the pipeline "presents a real and credible threat to the treaty-protected fishing rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada."

"I want to thank the other intervening parties, and particularly the sovereign Tribal Nations, for the expertise they shared in developing the record of this case," Scripps said.

"And the evidence presented by experts from intervening parties ultimately led to a re-opening of the record, ensuring we had the information necessary to answer the many questions," Scripps said.

The Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority, which would own the eventual tunnel, is scheduled to meet on Dec. 7.

But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still has their decision to make, which might not come for another two years.