Truthout75%
Michigan OK’s Permits for Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel — But Legal Hurdles Remain 58%
By Kyle Davidson83%
7/16/2026, 8:54:41 PM
Keywords: Enbridge, Line 5, Michigan, Pipelines, Great Lakes, Environment, Tribal Nations, Permits, Tunnel Project
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Red Herring, and Biased Writer Voice, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 34.3% saturation with 419 hits. Analysis detected 1,624 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,223 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 54.8% and a BS Rank of 58% (8,956 of 21,182 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 57.70% of the article peer group.
Two state agencies charged with overseeing Michigan’s natural resources and the environment have approved another set of permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel project, pushing the Canadian energy company closer to the full approval needed to begin construction.
The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy announced Wednesday that it had reapproved a set of permits that expired earlier this year, concerning wetlands resources and the Great Lakes submerged lands.
It follows a 2024 agreement between Enbridge, EGLE and the Bay Mills Indian Community, where the company agreed to redo its Part 303 and 325 permits to incorporate new wetland survey results.
The Department of Natural Resources also approved a Part 365 permit, which will require Enbridge to take steps to reduce its impacts on rare plants and animals while constructing the tunnel.
Great Lakes Tribal Nations and environmental advocates have called on state officials to shut down Line 5 for years.
The controversial pipeline runs from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario, with a 4.5-mile segment of dual pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet.
Opponents, including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, have repeatedly raised concerns about the threat of an oil spill in the straits, with the Oil and Water Don’t Mix Coalition arguing that taxpayers could be left on the hook for $4 billion should Line 5 rupture.
In 2018, Line 5 was damaged by a boat anchor dragged along the bottom of the straits, which dented the dual pipelines in three places.
Enbridge later agreed to replace the dual pipelines with a new segment housed within a utility tunnel beneath the lakebed.
While Enbridge says the tunnel project will mitigate risks around future anchor strikes and an oil spill, Line 5 opponents are continuing to advocate for a shutdown, arguing the geological conditions of the lakebed are not stable for drilling, and that the construction process could also result in the release of oil or natural gas liquids from the existing pipeline.
Environmental advocates have pointed to the release of 1,900 gallons of drilling fluid amid Enbridge’s effort to reroute Line 5 in Wisconsin as further evidence of their concerns, arguing the release is in violation of waterway and wetland permit conditions.
Opponents Say Major Legal Hurdles Remain
The project is still awaiting approval from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, and another permit, which would allow Enbridge to discharge up to 6 million gallons of treated wastewater into the Great Lakes each day as the company builds the tunnel, remains under EGLE review.
Another major permit, issued by the Michigan Public Service Commission, is under review by the Michigan Supreme Court following a challenge from the Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi and several environmental advocacy groups.
Debbie Chizewer, a managing attorney for Earthjustice, which represents the Bay Mills Indian Community, told Michigan Advance they expect to appeal the EGLE permits, as they have done previously.
Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, called the permitting decision a betrayal.
“The Straits of Mackinac, the sacred place where my Tribe’s creation story begins, have been handed over to a foreign corporation with a history that is nothing short of disastrous,” Gravelle said in a statement.
“Enbridge has spilled oil, committed safety violations, trespassed on lands, shattered ecosystems, pierced aquifers, violated our laws, and repeatedly shown contempt for tribal sovereignty.
They have left devastation in their wake, and now they’re being rewarded with responsibility over one of the most precious and sacred resources in our state.
The Great Lakes are not safe in their hands.”
In a press release announcing the permitting decision, EGLE said its 16-month review of the permit “concluded that the public and private need for the proposed activity outweighed other public interest criteria.”
Critics Call Permits a Betrayal
Following the decision, several environmental advocacy organizations criticized Michigan Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer and her administration, arguing the governor had softened her stance on the pipeline after pledging to take action against Line 5 in her 2018 campaign for governor.
As governor, Whitmer has authority over EGLE and the DNR and the final say on how or if these projects move forward, Beth Wallace, the climate and energy director for the National Wildlife Federation, told the Advance Thursday.
“EGLE has once again approved a set of permits where they have failed to consider or even look at the harm that is going to be caused from the actual construction of the pipeline,” Wallace said.
“Enbridge and Governor Whitmer have allowed a permit to move forward that only looks at shoreline impacts in the wetlands from them starting the construction.”
State Rep.
Betsy Coffia, a Democrat from Traverse City, also voiced her discontent with the decision in a Facebook post, where she spoke out against Whitmer’s appearance with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at a groundbreaking for the Saline Township data center, and her decision to veto nine bills passed at the end of 2024, when Democrats held the majority in both the House and Senate.
“I am especially grieved by this profound disrespect to our tribal nations who have been on the front lines on this case for years, fighting to protect our precious Great Lakes,” Coffia said.
“Let’s be honest.
Michigan government does not have a good track record of keeping our word with our Native brothers and sisters and today is a shameful new chapter in that betrayal to both the tribes and the precious, Great Lakes waters, they have protected for generations.”
Wallace similarly pointed to the governor’s support for data center development.
“You saw yesterday that she has come up with a pledge for data centers to do the right thing, and we’re seeing very much in this moment that those types of commitments have fallen very short and are very shallow, and we actually need leaders to demand better and uphold our laws instead of taking pledges from the corporations,” Wallace said.
Whitmer’s office did not respond to several requests for comment left through text message and voicemail.
This story will be updated if a response is received.
While the department’s decision dealt a clear blow to those advocating against the pipeline, Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said the permits were an important step forward for the project.
“We are reviewing the new permit conditions issued today to assess any impacts on tunnel construction,” Duffy said in a statement Wednesday evening.
The Great Lakes Michigan Jobs coalition, which consists of several business, industry and labor groups, also cheered the permit approvals.
“Union members across the Upper Peninsula back the Tunnel because it protects the Great Lakes, creates and supports great jobs and great paychecks, and it’s a big part of our energy mix,” Mike Smith, the executive director of the UP Construction Council, said in a statement.
“Today’s news represents just one more important step on that path, and we’re eager for regulators to give every green light needed to start construction.”
In 2022, an Enbridge consultant determined a shutdown of the pipeline would result in a half-cent-per-gallon increase on gas, jet fuel and diesel in Michigan and Wisconsin, and a 5-cent-per-gallon increase in Ontario.
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