ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Energy, Environment, and Great Lakes (EGLE) decision to approve permits for a tunnel to transport millions of gallons of oil per day under Lake Michigan and Lake Huron is a staggering reversal from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her administration’s previous efforts to shut down the pipeline and protect the Great Lakes. The Whitmer administration’s decision greenlights a project from the company responsible for the Kalamazoo River oil spill, one of the largest inland oil disasters in U.S. history. It also moves Michigan closer to locking in decades of fossil fuel dependency. 

“Governor Whitmer built her brand on standing up to Enbridge and protecting the Great Lakes, but now she is paving the way for the very pipeline she vowed to shut down,” said Beth Wallace, climate and energy director for the National Wildlife Federation. “This betrayal puts our Great Lakes at risk for the sake of a pipeline that serves foreign oil interests and would enable a tunnel project that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers admits will cause permanent and irreversible cultural and environmental damage.”

This move is a departure from the governor’s previous stance:

• 2020: She revoked Enbridge Energy’s easement, stating that the pipeline posed “an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes that could devastate our economy and way of life.” 
• 2021: She vowed to get the pipeline “out of the water as quickly as possible,” and said, “So long as oil is flowing through the pipelines, there is a very real threat of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes.”
• 2026: The United States Supreme Court reaffirmed the authority she demanded to decide the pipeline’s future in a 9-0 decision. 
• Now her administration is using that very authority to greenlight the tunnel, giving Enbridge exactly what it wanted but through the state’s own permitting process rather than a federal ruling.

NWF has worked for years to shut down the risky Line 5 pipeline, including opposing the unnecessary and dangerous tunnel project. The tunnel poses major explosion and collapse risk, with no economic payoff; in fact, experts have shown that a shutdown of Line 5 would benefit the U.S.

NWF is committed to protecting the Great Lakes–waters that more than 30 million depend on for their drinking water, health, jobs, and quality of life. NWF is committed to ensuring the full review of the submerged bottomlands beneath the Great Lakes, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of critical wildlife habitats and clean water. NWF will explore all available options to challenge this decision and ensure the Great Lakes and Tribal Sovereignty are upheld. 

Enbridge has a longtrack record of oil spills, leaks, accidents, explosions, and environmental damage. It has paid more than $187 million in penalties and settlements for 58 environmental and business-practice violations. Its recent Line 5 “frac-outs” are just the latest. There have already been 35 spills from its Line 5 pipeline, 69,000 gallons spilled in Wisconsin in 2024, not to mention a million gallons of oil gushed into the Kalamazoo River.