(The Center Square) – Native American tribal nations and environmental groups filed opening briefs with the Michigan Supreme Court in their ongoing challenge against the Great Lakes Tunnel Project, which is slowly making its way out of regulatory and legal limbo.
The court first took up the case in September, following an appeal by the groups over a lower court’s decision to let the project continue.
“The Great Lakes belong to all of us, not a Canadian fossil fuel pipeline company,” Earthjustice Senior Associate Attorney Adam Ratchenski exclusively told The Center Square. “Every person who benefits from drinking, fishing, or swimming in Lake Michigan has an important voice they can use to speak up and defend it from destruction.”
Multiple Native American tribal nations have been challenging the project for years, joining Democrats in calling for the complete closure of Line 5. Earthjustice, the nation’s largest nonprofit public interest environmental law organization, and the Native American Rights Fund are currently representing those groups.
They are joined in the lawsuit by the Environmental Law & Policy Center and the Michigan Climate Action Network.
The proposed changes would move a section of the pipeline into a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, which is the 4-mile wide waterway connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, dividing Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The pipeline currently lies on the bottom of the Straits.
The transmission line is owned by Canadian company Enbridge and goes 645 miles from Superior, Wis., through the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. The 72-year-old pipeline currently moves more than 500,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids daily.
Enbridge told The Center Square in a statement that the upgrades will make Line 5 more reliable, while protecting the integrity of the gas supply chain to Michigan.
“Moving Line 5 into a tunnel deep under the lakebed at the straits makes what has always been a safe pipeline even safer, ensuring energy access and reliability, and supporting jobs and the economy throughout the region,” it said. “Building the tunnel has the support of 70% of Michiganders. As we proceed with this modernization project, we remain committed to operating Line 5 responsibly with enhanced safety measures in the Straits that protect Michigan’s natural resources.”
Opponents of the project hope to see Line 5 closed entirely.
“The Great Lakes literally shape the state of Michigan,” Ratchenski said. “More than 40 million people get their drinking water from the Great Lakes, and billions of dollars in wages are generated every year from world-renown boating, hunting and fishing in those waters.”
The lawsuit against the project argues that the tunnel will violate Michigan’s Constitution and the Michigan Environmental Protection Act. It is hopeful the Michigan Supreme Court will throw out a lower court’s decision to uphold the decision made by the Michigan Public Service Commission, which issued a permit for the project in 2023. If that is done, this would lead to the commission reconsidering the permit.
“When the Michigan Public Service Commission approved the tunnel project without considering its likely effects, they violated a core Michigan law that protects the state’s natural resources,” Ratchenski said. “Our ideal outcome is for the permit to be overturned and sent back to the commissioners with instructions to conduct a full and fair examination of the tunnel project.”
Enbridge explained in its statement that it believes the permit is valid, “consistent with Michigan law,” and should be upheld.
“We are confident in the Michigan Public Service Commission’s thorough permitting process,” it said. “The February decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the comprehensive and detailed work of the MPSC to approve the Great Lakes Tunnel Project.”
Republican lawmakers have joined together to support the project. In June, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also released a report which determined that the Line 5 tunnel project would have a “beneficial cumulative effect” on Michigan and its environment by reducing the risk of an oil leak.
While the report found there might be some “direct, short-term, detrimental impacts” during construction on the local environment and recreation, most “environmental consequences would be short-term with the effects resolving once construction is completed.”
The seven-year project, which has yet to break ground, is currently being expedited as a result of President Donald Trump’s day one executive order declaring a national energy emergency.
This is just one of the lawsuits currently filed against the Great Lakes Tunnel Project. There is also a case in federal court which the U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing, as previously reported by The Center Square.
