Michigan AG Responded to Approval of a Tunnel for Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a statement after the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) issued a decision approving the siting for a tunnel for Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline to pass through. Currently, the pipeline passes beneath the Straits of Mackinac and poses a serious spill risk to the Great Lakes region. MSPC approved the siting, pending governmental approvals, a risk assessment, and other conditions. AG Nessel issued the following statement:

“In issuing its decision today, the Michigan Public Service Commission highlighted the risk posed by the pipelines currently located on the bottomlands of the Straits of Mackinac and the catastrophic effects an oil spill would have on the Great Lakes. Even with today’s approval, the fact remains that we are still years away from the tunnel actually being built. In the meantime, Line 5 is a ticking timebomb in the heart of the Great Lakes.

AG Nessel sued Enbridge in 2020 to shut down the pipeline, and has also been supporting the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation’s lawsuit against Enbridge. Litigation in both cases was still ongoing at the time of the MPSC order.