Michigan objections may be circumvented by Trump authority
LAKE HURON—The US Army Corps of Engineers announced last month that it will accelerate the federal review of Enbridge’s controversial Line 5 tunnel project under newly activated emergency permitting procedures—sparking fresh concern among Great Lakes advocates about what could be lost in the rush.
The fast-tracking falls under emergency rules established during President Donald Trump’s last tenure, when he issued an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency.” That order cleared the bureaucratic path for oil and gas projects to speed through approvals that would normally take years.
Army Corps officials emphasized Wednesday that while the process will be faster, it will not bypass environmental scrutiny entirely.
“We’re not eliminating steps,” said Shane McCoy, regulatory branch chief with the Corps’ Detroit District. “The emergency procedures just truncate the timelines.”
Line 5, a 645-mile pipeline operated by Canadian energy giant Enbridge, cuts across Wisconsin and Michigan before crossing into Ontario—snaking along a precarious stretch of lakebed through the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. Enbridge plans to encase a new section of the pipeline inside a concrete tunnel beneath the lakebed, claiming the project will better protect the environment and ensure the continued flow of “critical energy infrastructure.”
Lt. Col. Wallace Bandeff said much of the environmental data needed for the review has already been collected, easing the transition into the expedited timeline. “Coincidentally, the majority of the data that we needed to inform this decision has been collected,” Lt. Col. Bandeff told reporters.
The Corps still plans to release a draft environmental review in June, but it’s unclear how the final decision timeline will shift. Originally, the agency had aimed to reach a decision by early 2026.
Yet while Enbridge pitches the tunnel as a safeguard, opponents see a looming disaster—a gamble with the freshwater heart of North America.
Environmental groups, Indigenous nations and Great Lakes defenders argue that Line 5’s very existence under the Straits poses an unacceptable risk. A rupture could devastate drinking water, fisheries, and coastal economies stretching from Michigan to Ontario. Critics also charge that the emergency permitting process threatens to silence public voices at a critical moment.
Under the emergency framework, public comment periods that would normally last 60 days could be slashed to as little as 15 days. Corps officials said they had not yet finalized the length of the comment period.
The fast-tracked timeline has already strained relationships between the Army Corps and First Nations in Michigan. In March, seven tribal nations—including the Bay Mills Indian Community—formally withdrew from federal consultations, citing a deeply flawed process that marginalized Indigenous rights and knowledge systems.
Bay Mills President Whitney Gravelle, speaking through legal counsel, was blunt: “We will continue to defend the rights of the Great Lakes. See you in court.”
Across the region, opposition to Line 5 is hardening into a siege. Tribal nations, environmental organizations, and legal experts are preparing for new rounds of litigation, civil resistance, and international pressure, warning that once the Great Lakes are fouled by oil, there is no undoing the damage.
“The Great Lakes are not a sacrificial zone,” said one activist from the Oil and Water Don’t Mix campaign. “They are our drinking water, our economy, our culture, our life.”
For Manitoulin Island and the wider Great Lakes basin, the stakes could not be higher. Roughly 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water flows through this interconnected ecosystem.
The Corps has pledged to release more information on the accelerated review process in the coming weeks. In the meantime, opponents are bracing for a summer of fierce debate.
