The US Army Corps of Engineers has granted national energy emergency status for Enbridge’s proposed tunnel for its Line 5 oil pipeline, fast-tracking the environmental review process.
The pipeline tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan is among the first to get an emergency designation after President Trump declared a national energy emergency in a January executive order, and means the Army Corps can fast-track its review of the project.
As part of the January 20 energy declaration, aimed at expanding US energy production, Trump ordered the Army Corps to issue permits enabling the filling of wetlands and dredging or building in waterways.
The project would involve construction of a 5.8km tunnel for the 1,038km Line 5 that crosses through the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes. The pipeline carries over 20 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids daily from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario.
In its public notice, the Army Corps’s Detroit district said the emergency permit request met the terms of Trump’s executive order because it addressed “an energy supply situation which would result in an unacceptable hazard to life, a significant loss of property, or an immediate, unforeseen, and significant economic hardship” if not acted upon more quickly.
Michigan regulators approved Enbridge’s application to build the US$750m tunnel to house its aging Line 5 oil pipeline in 2023, but the project still needed Army Corps permission.
The project has been opposed by environmentalists and Native American tribes concerned about the potential risk to the Great Lakes but it is supported by organisations such as the public policy Mackinac Center which says the tunnel “virtually eliminates the risk of a spill in the Great Lakes, addressing environmental concerns while maintaining critical infrastructure”.
In May last year Enbridge appointed a joint venture of Barnard Construction Company and Civil and Building North America to lead the tunnel construction.
