Businesses gather signatures opposing Line 5 tunnel following Bad River drilling fluid spill

A coalition of more than 200 business owners from throughout the Great Lakes region is calling on the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy to reject permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel pipeline, urging other business owners to sign on to a joint letter opposing the project.

Line 5 stretches from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario, with a four-mile segment of dual pipelines located on the lakebed within the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. 

In its call for support, the Great Lakes Business Network pointed to a recent spill of up to 1,900 gallons of drilling fluid in Wisconsin as part of Enbridge’s effort to reroute Line 5. The project came after a federal judge found the company had trespassed on the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation for more than a decade by continuing to operate the pipeline following the expiration of its easement.

Enbridge Spokesperson Ryan Duffy told Michigan Advance the company reported the release of the clay and water mixture used for drilling to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on Saturday, and that it had been contained using sandbags and silt fence and that the cleanup is well underway.  

“We will continue to work with the DNR on completion of the clean-up,” Duffy said in an emailed statement. 

Wisconsin Public Radio reported concerns from the Bad River Band and environmental advocates that the release violates Enbridge’s waterway and wetland permit, with one condition stating the company “shall not discharge drilling mud into wetlands, waterways or sensitive areas.”

The Bad River Band has also challenged the reroute, noting that the pipeline would still encircle the reservation and threaten waters, fish and wild rice, which are culturally sacred and economically critical to its members.

Tribal communities and environmental advocates have called for a shutdown of the more than 70-year-old pipeline for years, pointing to a series of anchor strikes which dented the pipeline, and the 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill from Enbridge’s Line 6B as among their reasons for concern.

While Enbridge has agreed to replace the two segments of pipeline with a new segment housed within a tunnel embedded within the bedrock beneath the lakebed, opponents have raised their further concerns with the safety of the tunnel project, including unstable bedrock, high water pressure and the presence of gasses that could lead to an explosion.

Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community previously told Michigan Advance the tunnel would bore through several cultural sites, archaeological resources and what Anishinaabe consider to be the site of creation.

In order to move forward, the tunnel project is in need of permits from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and EGLE. Another vital permit granted by the Michigan Public Service Commission is under review by the Michigan Supreme Court, following challenges from tribal communities and several environmental advocacy groups.

While Enbridge has touted support from businesses in the region, the Great Lakes Business Network has rejected that notion, calling all business owners and leaders who care about the Great Lakes to submit their signatures by the close of business on July 2.

“We cannot stand by while a Canadian oil company claims to speak for our business community,” Great Lakes Business Network Co-Chairs, Pete Laing and Travis Hixton said in a statement. “The Great Lakes are our economic engine supporting tourism, shipping, real estate, and countless jobs. A decade of destruction to our bottomlands for an unnecessary tunnel is bad for business and bad for our future.”

Following the Great Lakes Business Network’s call for signatures, Great Lakes Michigan Jobs, which says it represents more 75,000 Michigan businesses, issued its own statement calling on EGLE to renew Enbridge’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.

If reissued, the permit would allow Enbridge to release roughly 6 million gallons of treated wastewater into the Great Lakes per day between two facilities located on the north and south sides of the straits.

“We strongly support Line 5 and the Great Lakes Tunnel and urge EGLE to renew the permit to allow tunnel builders to treat and clean wastewater,” Mike Witkowski, the director of environmental and regulatory policy at the Michigan Manufacturers Association, said in a statement.