Michigan panel wants details on Enbridge’s oil tunnel plan between 2 Great Lakes

A Michigan regulatory panel stated Thursday that it wants extra details about security dangers earlier than it could rule on Enbridge Vitality’s plan to increase an oil pipeline by a tunnel beneath a waterway linking two of the Nice Lakes.

The state Public Service Fee voted 3-0 to hunt additional particulars concerning the potential for explosions and fires involving electrical gear throughout development of the tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

The fee’s approval can be required for Enbridge to switch two current Line 5 pipes within the straits, which join Lake Huron and Lake Michigan with a brand new section that will run by the proposed underground tunnel.

“This has been an intensive course of,” chairman Dan Scripps stated. “We need to guarantee that we get it proper.”

Enbridge and the state of Michigan are mired in authorized battles over Line 5. The 69-year-old underground pipeline carries Canadian oil and pure gasoline liquids used for propane by northern Michigan and Wisconsin to refineries in Sarnia, Ont.

A 6.4-kilometre part divides into twin pipes that cross the underside of the straits.

Enbridge is defying Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2020 order to close down the road, a transfer lengthy sought by environmental teams and Native American tribes who worry a rupture would devastate the Lakes. The corporate says the road is in good situation and contends in a federal lawsuit that the Democratic governor would not have the jurisdiction to close it down.

Enbridge, based mostly in Calgary, reached a cope with former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in 2018 to construct the $500 million tunnel. Enbridge has obtained permits from the Michigan Division of Atmosphere, Nice Lakes and Vitality and awaits phrase from the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers in addition to Michigan Public Service Fee.

The fee stated final yr it could not go judgment on whether or not the whole 1,038-kilometre line ought to proceed
working, focusing as an alternative on the underwater part.

Its three members are Whitmer appointees. Scripps and Tremaine Phillips are Democrats, whereas Katherine Peretick is an unbiased.

In its order Thursday, the fee stated testimony, reveals and briefings included too little about tunnel engineering and hazards.

Additionally missing is details about security and upkeep of the twin pipelines, “together with leak detection methods and shutdown procedures,” the order stated.

Interviewed by phone after the assembly in Lansing, Michigan, Scripps stated Enbridge had pegged the chance of an oil launch from the tunnel pipe as “one in 1,000,000.” The fee needs to understand how the determine was calculated, he stated, in addition to steps to remove even that risk.

In a press release, Enbridge stated it already had offered “in depth” materials on these issues however would reply additional
questions.

“The engineering and design of the tunnel has been developed in accordance with the tunnel settlement entered with the state, and in shut coordination with the Mackinac Straits Hall Authority to make sure its security and design life,” the corporate stated.

The hall authority was created below Snyder to supervise constructing and operation of the tunnel.

Pipeline critics praised the fee’s push to be taught extra.

“Enbridge has not confirmed feasibility or security for this undertaking,” stated Beth Wallace of the Nationwide Wildlife Federation. “Enbridge has confirmed repeatedly that they can’t be trusted to function Line 5 they usually shouldn’t be trusted to blast a tunnel by the Nice Lakes.”   

The fee’s determination was the most recent of many delays for the tunnel, which the corporate initially pledged to finish by 2024.

The Military Corps is conducting a prolonged environmental affect research.

Enbridge stated it stays dedicated to the undertaking.

The Nice Lakes Michigan Jobs Coalition, which represents business and labour teams, urged the fee to “get again to work, transfer the tunnel undertaking ahead and defend tens of 1000’s of Michigan jobs.”