Michigan judge grants state Line 5 tunnel review

Michigan Administrative Law Judge Dennis Mack on Oct. 23, 2020, granted the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) authority to review Enbridge Inc.’s plans to build a tunnel across the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac as part of replacing the 4.5-mile section of its Line 5 liquids pipeline that crosses the straits. The judge however, granted Enbridge’s motion regarding the entirety of Line 5’s operational aspects, including public need and safety.

In making his ruling, Judge Mack noted that the case before the court did not entail approval of the utility tunnel itself—the authority questioned by Enbridge—but rather a review of the proposal to relocate the pipeline inside the tunnel, which necessarily requires consideration of its design, construction, and operational features and over which the PSC does have authority.

Enbridge has completed about 90% of initial design work on the Great Lakes Tunnel that would house the replaced segments of Line 5 (OGJ Online, Oct. 15, 2020).