(Reuters) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted national energy emergency status for a tunnel proposed by Enbridge for its Line 5 oil pipeline, fast-tracking a key federal permitting process.
The pipeline tunnel is among the first to get an emergency designation after President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency in a January executive order, and means the Army Corps can fast-track its review of the project.
As part of the January 20 energy declaration, aimed at expanding U.S. energy production to meet projected soaring demand, Trump ordered the Army Corps to issue permits enabling the filling of wetlands and dredging or building in waterways.
The project would build a roughly 4-mile tunnel for the 645-mile Line 5 that crosses through the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes. The pipeline carries over 20 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids daily from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario.
In its public notice, the Army Corps's Detroit district said the emergency permit request met the terms of Trump's executive order because it addresses "an energy supply situation which would result in an unacceptable hazard to life, a significant loss of property, or an immediate, unforeseen, and significant economic hardship" if not acted upon more quickly.
Michigan regulators approved Enbridge's application to build a $750 million tunnel under the Great Lakes to house its aging Line 5 oil pipeline in 2023, but the project still awaited Army Corps permitting.
The Army Corps, a federal engineering service with permitting authority over projects involving wetlands and waterways, had been conducting an environmental impact study of the pipeline with input from affected Native American tribes.
The Army Corps initially posted in February a list of more than 600 projects requiring faster environmental approvals, but then quickly removed the list from its website to give the agency more time to vet projects, including Line 5.
Native American tribes and environmental groups who oppose the project because of the potential risk to the Great Lakes have refuted the idea that the tunnel is needed and that a national energy emergency exists.
Last month, six Michigan tribal nations wrote to the Army Corps withdrawing as cooperating agencies in the tunnel's review, saying they expected the project would be rubber-stamped regardless of their input.
“We will continue to defend the rights of the Great Lakes. See you in court,” said Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle.
Calgary-based Enbridge said the pipeline is "critical energy infrastructure" and will "make a safe pipeline safer."
