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More than 77,000 Michiganders Called for Alternatives, But Army Corps Pushes Forward with Dangerous Tunnel Plan.

Citizens are condemning the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Enbridge Line 5 tunnel project, calling it a "sham process" that ignores overwhelming public opposition and scientific concerns about building an experimental oil tunnel beneath the Great Lakes. Virtual public meetings begin Wednesday, but the Army Corps has refused to hold any in-person hearings and shortened the time for any public comment.

"This rigged process under Trump's so-called 'energy emergency' completely ignores the voices of more than 77,000 Michiganders who called on the Army Corps to evaluate real alternatives to keeping oil pipelines in our Great Lakes," said Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for the Oil & Water Don't Mix coalition. "Instead of listening to overwhelming public opposition and independent safety experts, the Army Corps is rubber-stamping Enbridge's dangerous tunnel scheme that would turn the Straits of Mackinac into an experimental industrial zone for a Canadian oil company."

The Oil & Water Don't Mix coalition calls on Governor Whitmer to reject the tunnel project and protect the Great Lakes from this risky scheme that benefits a Canadian corporation at the expense of Michigan's environmental integrity and democratic values. Whitmer’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy is weighing a tunnel permit request from Enbridge.

The Army Corps draft environmental review, released in May 2025, confirms what Michigan citizens have long argued: the proposed 3.6-mile tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac poses significant explosion risks, it would cause extensive environmental damage during at least six years of construction, and the pipeline is not needed in Michigan. Enbridge experts testified in federal court that without the Line 5 pipeline, transportation fuel prices in Michigan and Wisconsin would increase by “approximately 0.5 cents per gallon.” Despite receiving more than 77,000 public comments during the scoping process—with over 90 percent of Michigan testimony opposing the project when given adequate time to comment—the Army Corps failed to prioritize alternatives that would remove aging oil pipelines from the Great Lakes entirely.

"The message should be clear: listen to the 77,000 voices you've already ignored." - Sean McBrearty, Oil & Water Don't Mix with a message to the USACE

Adding insult to injury, the Army Corps has scheduled only virtual public meetings beginning this Wednesday and set a rushed public comment deadline of June 30, while failing to establish even one in-person public hearing where citizens could attend and voice their concerns directly.

"Citizens shouldn't feel compelled to legitimize this sham process by participating in these rigged virtual meetings,” said McBrearty. “The Army Corps already heard from more than 77,000 people during the 2022 scoping process who demanded real alternatives to oil pipelines in the Great Lakes. Instead of honoring that overwhelming public input, they're asking us to rubber-stamp their predetermined outcome. The message should be clear: listen to the 77,000 voices you've already ignored.”

The Army Corps appears ready to bypass evidence about the tunnel project’s damaging impacts, just as CNN reports this week that Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has told staff overseeing Michigan and other Midwest states to stop enforcing violations against fossil fuel companies like Enbridge.

The environmental review reveals the project would destroy wetlands, eliminate habitat for hundreds of trees used by endangered bats, violate Indigenous treaty rights dating to 1836, and require 400-foot construction cranes—nearly three times the height of the Mackinac Bridge—for years on end. Six tribal nations with treaty rights in the area oppose the tunnel project.

Independent tunnel experts have raised serious safety concerns about the project, including inadequate exploratory drilling, questionable drilling methods, the presence of submerged methane and associated explosion risks, and a novel tunnel design that has never been attempted before. The explosive nature of the natural gas liquids being transported makes the enclosed tunnel design particularly hazardous.

The Trump administration significantly shortened the public comment period from months to weeks, limiting public input on a project that Michigan's Attorney General has called unlawful under the President's "energy emergency" declaration.

Construction costs for the tunnel have already ballooned from an original estimate of $500 million to potentially exceeding $1.5 billion, with Michigan taxpayers already on the hook for $4.5 million in consultant fees.

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Contact: Sean McBrearty, 616-516-7758