The Army Corps of Engineers will speed up its review of a planned Michigan pipeline tunnel meant to cross under the Straits of Mackinac, exposing the stark divide between the project’s opponents and backers.
On Wednesday, the Army Corps’ Detroit District named Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel as an “energy project” that’s subject to President Donald Trump’s “energy emergency” executive order signed on his first day back in office. Trump’s order directed the Army Corps to use emergency authority under the Clean Water Act to accelerate pipeline construction.
Enbridge’s underground tunnel would house a replacement segment of Line 5, which carries light crude oil and natural gas liquids and currently sits on the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac. The straits divide Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.
The project has long been a source of tension between environmental groups fearful of an oil spill in the Great Lakes, backers of the project who reject calls to shut down the pipeline and ongoing court proceedings. Now, the Army Corps has granted national energy emergency status to the $750 million tunnel project.
