08/14/2026
The Surfrider Foundation Northern Michigan Chapter stands with our allies and strongly opposes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision, announced yesterday, to rely on a narrow impacts and alternatives analysis to permit the construction of a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac to accommodate Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. This project would permanently fill wetlands, disturb land and cultural resources, cause water quality impacts, ignore tribal treaty rights, and allow for the additional impacts and threats associated with continued transport of oil and gas through the Line 5 pipeline system under and adjacent to our Great Lakes waters.
Surfrider is heartened by and agrees with the Michigan Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down the similarly narrow approach to impacts and alternatives analysis relied on for the Michigan Pipeline Safety Commission’s Line 5 permit, which will require that analysis and decision to be revisited. Surfrider intends to continue to advocate for a thorough consideration of impacts and alternatives that would best protect our precious water resources, communities, and tribal treaty rights.
Join our friends at FLOW and Oil and Water Don’t Mix for a webcast to learn the latest on this issue.
