PRESS RELEASE
Download the written comments to EGLE (PDF)
Traverse City, Mich. – On August 29, 2025, Flow Water Advocates, a Great Lakes water protection organization, together with the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation, submitted written comments on Enbridge’s application for a Water Resources Permit for the corporation’s proposed Line 5 tunnel project through the Straits of Mackinac. The application is currently being reviewed by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) for compliance under the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA), Parts 303 and 325.
Flow’s comments demand that EGLE consider the entire project in its review, and detail the many adverse environmental impacts that will or are likely to result from the project’s approval, including:
- a projected six years of construction traffic and noise, light, and air pollution;
- the destruction of precious wetland ecosystems;
- climate impacts from the tunnel’s construction and the products it will transport, and
- the potential impacts resulting from a project failure, including a catastrophic oil spill.
Flow’s comments also highlight the expert reports and Enbridge’s own expert testimony that have confirmed that there are available alternatives for transporting the products currently flowing through Line 5.
Because the proposed tunnel will have significant–and potentially catastrophic–impacts on Michigan’s public trust waters and natural resources, and because these impacts can be avoided through available alternatives, EGLE must deny the permit under Michigan’s controlling environmental laws and regulations.
Michiganders are counting on the State to uphold its responsibility to protect the public trust rights of current and future generations who depend on the Great Lakes for their drinking water, subsistence, and way of life.
An additional public comment period for Enbridge’s application to EGLE for a wastewater discharge permit under NREPA, Part 31, is anticipated in the coming months.
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Flow Water Advocates is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Traverse City, Michigan. Our mission is to ensure the waters of the Great Lakes Basin are healthy, public, and protected for all. With a staff of legal and policy experts, writers, and community builders, Flow is a trusted resource for Great Lakes advocates. We help communities, businesses, agencies, and governments make informed policy decisions and protect public trust rights to water. Learn more at www.FlowWaterAdvocates.org.
