Governor Whitmer, EGLE Director Roos: State must consider impact of Michigan Supreme Court decision; Tribes challenge tunnel permits

From: Office of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
Posted September 9, 2026

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (Photo courtesy michigan.gov)

LANSING, Mich. --  On Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Director Phil Roos announced that the state must consider the impact of a recent Michigan Supreme Court decision on the EGLE permits issued this past July for the proposed Great Lakes Tunnel Project.

"I’ve been clear from day one that we must get the existing dual Line 5 pipelines out of the Straits of Mackinac as quickly and safely as possible. These 73-year-old underwater pipelines are a ticking time bomb, and I am taking every action I can to shut them down and protect the Great Lakes and the jobs and communities that depend on them," said Governor Whitmer. "The Michigan Supreme Court has made clear that the state must more thoroughly scrutinize the environmental consequences of the proposed tunnel and the alternatives to it. At the same time, Enbridge needs to stop asking Michigan to wait for a tunnel that could be a decade or longer away and start pursuing alternatives now that can get oil out of the Straits within months. Michigan has waited long enough. We cannot put the Great Lakes at risk for another decade while waiting for a solution that may never come."

EGLE announced its permit decision on July 15. Sixteen days later, the Michigan Supreme Court issued its July 31 decision. Reviewing a permit previously issued by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), the Court explained how the State must assess the potential environmental harms from this project and compare alternatives. 

The proposed tunnel is an extraordinarily large and consequential infrastructure project in the heart of the Great Lakes. Given the Court’s decision addressing the MPSC permit for this very project, the State is considering what impact that decision has on the July 15 EGLE permits.

EGLE Director Roos said, "Before issuing the resource permit in July, EGLE reviewed the cultural and environmental impacts within our statutory scope as well as an analysis of alternatives. With the Michigan Supreme Court invalidating the MPSC’s permit because its analysis was too narrow, we understand that EGLE’s permit may need further review through the legal process."

Roos added, "Until all those legal questions are resolved, conditions in EGLE’s permit prevent construction of the tunnel entrance from moving forward."

Governor Whitmer also sent a letter on Sept. 9 to Enbridge CEO Gregory Ebel calling on the company to stop treating the tunnel as the only alternative to the existing dual pipelines. In light of the tunnel’s growing uncertainty and delay, she urged Enbridge to pursue a planned, orderly alternative that can get oil out of the Straits far sooner. 

For the full letter, click here.

Michigan Tribes ask Judge to toss Line 5 Tunnel Permits

From: Earthjustice, posted Sept. 10, 2026

The Three Fires Confederacy Bridge Walk For Water in Mackinaw City, Michigan, on Monday, September 7, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Rice for Earthjustice)
 
LANSING, Mich. -- Four Tribal Nations in Michigan have petitioned state regulators for a contested case to challenge a pair of permits that authorize Canadian company Enbridge to build its proposed Line 5 oil tunnel below the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes. The Tribes seek to overturn the wetlands and bottomlands permits that Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) approved for Enbridge in July. Those permits face new uncertainty after the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision overturning a different permit for the tunnel, which raises questions about whether EGLE’s decision also failed to comply with the law.

Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle said, "The proposed tunnel is a trap designed to keep Line 5 operating throughout Michigan for generations to come. Tribal Nations have treaty-reserved rights and a sovereign responsibility to protect the Great Lakes, and those rights cannot be ignored to preserve the interests of a foreign oil company. There are safer alternatives that do not require Line 5. It is time for Michigan to right this wrong by honoring its commitments to Tribal Nations and choosing a future that protects our waters rather than locking us into future generations of risk."

The new challenge was filed on the heels of the annual Mackinac Bridge Walk. On Monday, around 1,000 people from all 12 Anishinaabe Tribal Nations in Michigan walked across the bridge to demonstrate opposition to the Line 5 tunnel in response to a unified call to action by the ancestral Three Fires Confederacy.*

Earthjustice Managing Attorney Debbie Chizewer said, "Over the past year, tens of thousands of Michiganders have raised their voices and called on Governor Whitmer’s administration to reject the tunnel. The permits were granted anyway. Now, it’s up to all of us to protect this country’s greatest freshwater resource before it’s too late. Whether it sits in open water or in a tunnel, the Line 5 pipeline has no place in the Great Lakes."

Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Managing Attorney David Gover commented on the importance of cultural resources.

"The Line 5 tunnel project, if allowed to proceed, will irreversibly destroy tribal cultural resources including burials, tribal lifeways, and the Straits of Mackinac, a sacred space for the Anishinaabe," Gover noted. "To be sure, there is no way to properly mitigate these impacts. Only permanent destruction will occur. We look forward to judicial review of this legally deficient permit, especially in light of the Michigan Supreme Court’s recent decision clarifying the Michigan Environmental Protection Act and its application to these types of projects."

The Bay Mills Indian Community, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians are represented by Earthjustice and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is represented by Kanji and Katzen, PLLC.

* Editor's Note: CLICK HERE for some videos and photos of water protectors during the Three Fires Confederacy Bridge Walk on the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day, Sept. 7, posted by the Great Lakes Water Protector Network.

Six tribes end cooperation with US Army Corps over "Energy Emergency" Line 5 tunnel fast-tracking

This map shows the location of the existing Line 5 dual pipelines -- dotted lines to the west (at left) of the Mackinac Bridge (at right, in red) between St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, Michigan. Enbridge hopes to replace the 71-year-old Line 5 with a pipeline inside a tunnel under the lakebed of the Straits. (Keweenaw Now file image courtesy US Army Corps of Engineers) 

From Native American Rights Fund and Earth Justice*:

[On April 16, 2025, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced it will not perform a full review of the Line 5 tunnel projects under the pretext of a made up "energy emergency." The proposed tunnel would pass through the Straits of Mackinac, a sacred place shared by treaty with the Bay Mills Indian Community. USACE shortened and moved review timelines for environmental impacts, endangered species, treaty rights, and cultural resources. These measures cut out Tribal Nations, the public, and state regulators from providing meaningful input -- and they make the review wildly inconsistent with federal law. In March, Bay Mills and other Tribal Nations cited the many gaps and flaws in USACE’s environmental review process prior to ending their consulting partner status in protest.]

DETROIT --  Six Michigan Tribes withdrew from Line 5 federal discussions after learning that the US Army Corps of Engineers will likely fast-track its approval for Enbridge’s massive oil tunnel project, in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order declaring an "energy emergency." In a letter sent to the US Army Corps on March 21, 2025, the Tribes called the Corps’ actions "unacceptable."

"We participated in the process, we followed the rules, we provided the case law, we submitted the evidence, and we trusted that our voices and our treaty rights would be respected. Yet, once again, the federal government has cast us aside and failed us," said Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle. "Instead of protecting our waters, lands, and sacred sites, the government is forcing this dangerous project forward, ignoring the harm it will bring to the Tribal Nations and the people of Michigan. We will not stand by while our sovereignty is disregarded for the sake of foreign profits. Michigan’s leaders must act now to defend our shared waters before it’s too late."

Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, is pictured here before the Pipe Out Paddle Up Floatilla Against the Line 5 pipeline in Mackinaw City, Michigan, on Saturday, September 3, 2022. (Photo by Sarah Rice for Earthjustice. Reprinted with permission.) 

The Bay Mills Indian Community, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi had been engaging with the Corps’ review of the Line 5 tunnel project as "cooperating agencies" under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Under the Biden administration, the Corps was preparing a draft Environmental Impact Statement after receiving over 17,000 public comments on the tunnel project. An internal memo circulated in January by Former Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jaime Pinkham directed the agency to assess the risk of oil spills from approving the tunnel project, and to consider other alternatives in its review. Now, the Corps is likely to apply emergency treatment and issue a permit for the tunnel project, without completing reviews of oil spills and other environmental impacts, alternatives, and effects on cultural resources.

"It appears the U.S. Army Corps plans to short-circuit the environmental and historic properties review by announcing they intend to use the guise of an American 'energy emergency' to fast-track the legally required public comment and Tribal consultation processes, greenlighting a Canadian corporation’s project that will desecrate a sacred place and threaten Great Lakes residents’ drinking water," said Senior Staff Attorney David L. Gover with the Native American Rights Fund, which represents the Tribes.

Experts have warned that the tunnel project design, which has never been tried before anywhere else in the world, could lead to an explosion under the Straits. Along with federal approval, Enbridge still needs a permit from Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to begin construction. A public comment period is expected as part of that permitting process.**

"Resuscitating an old pipeline that carries most of its oil and gas back to Canada won’t do a thing for the US energy supply," said Earthjustice Managing Attorney Debbie Chizewer, who is representing Bay Mills. "But it might lead to the next big oil disaster. Only this time, it will happen in the middle of the largest freshwater drinking supply in North America. We can’t allow that to happen."

Read the letter: https://narf.org/nill/documents/20250321-line5-eis-withdrawal-letter.pdf

Impacts to Bay Mills Indian Community: https://narf.org/cases/enbridges-line-5-pipeline/

* About the Native American Rights Fund (NARF):

NARF is a non-profit 501c(3) organization focused on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that federal and state governments live up to their legal obligations to Native Americans. Since 1970, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) has provided specialized legal assistance to Indian tribes, organizations, and individuals nationwide to assert and defend the most important Native rights. In hundreds of major cases. NARF has achieved significant results in critical areas such as tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, natural resource protection, voting rights, and Indian education. Like us on Facebook and follow us on LinkedIn to learn about the latest fights to promote justice and protect Native American rights.

* About Earthjustice:

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change.

** Editor's Note: CLICK HERE to take action through Oil and Water Don't Mix to demand that EGLE deny the Line 5 tunnel permit.

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin prevails in another legal victory against Back Forty Mine

By Michele Bourdieu
With information from Earthjustice

This January 2021 photo of the Menominee River was taken near the Menominee Tribe's sacred sites and the proposed site of the Back 40 mine. (Photo © and courtesy Tina Lesperance, member of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River)

LANSING --  A recent Court decision has created even more uncertainty about the fate of the Back Forty mine, a proposed open-pit mine on the border of Michigan and Wisconsin that has prompted strong opposition from the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin because it would release toxic pollution into the Tribe’s namesake river and threaten a landscape of historic and cultural resources including dance rings, garden mounds, and burial mounds.

This ancestral burial mound near the Menominee River is among the archaeological sites that could be impacted by the proposed Back 40 mine. (Keweenaw Now file photo) 

To learn more, join "Watershed to Watershed: Lessons from the Back 40 Mine Resistance," an online discussion with activists supporting the Menominee Tribe in opposing the Back 40. It will take place on Zoom Tuesday, May 4. (See below for details.)

On April 23, 2021, Michigan Circuit Court Judge Hon. Wanda M. Stokes ordered an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to reconsider his 2019 decision approving a mining permit for Aquila Resources’ Back Forty Project. In this order, the judge remanded the mining permit decision for reconsideration, directing that the ALJ admit additional evidence including documented concerns from Michigan environmental regulators regarding flawed groundwater modeling.

Open-pit sulfide ore mines, like the one proposed on the banks of the Menominee River, can result in acid mine drainage -- a toxic runoff problem that is nearly impossible to remediate.

The mining permit is one of several needed by Aquila to proceed with the Back Forty mine. A second permit, which would allow for the destruction of surrounding wetlands, was denied in January following a separate legal challenge.* Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, has represented the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin for several years in its bid to stop the Back Forty mine.

"We are encouraged by the news that the mining permit must now be reconsidered," said Gunnar Peters, chairman of Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. "And we will not stop fighting until these waters, lands, and sacred sites are protected for good."

Judge Stokes has ordered that evidence against the wetlands permit, especially concerning the groundwater model, is relevant to the decision in the mining permit contested case.

The January 2021 denial of the wetlands permit and this April 23 order to reconsider the 2019 mining permit decision, make two victories for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in their fight against the Back 40 mine.

"With one permit denied, this ruling means a second permit needed for this mine to advance now hangs in the balance," said Gussie Lord, an Earthjustice attorney who directs the organization’s Tribal Partnerships program. "We will continue to defend this cherished river on behalf of the Menominee Tribe, and we look forward to the day when we can say we have halted this project."

Jeff Budish, a member of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River and a Michigan resident who has spoken out against the Back 40 mine at public hearings, commented via Facebook on this news from Earthjustice, indicating the Coalition's support for the Menominee Tribe.

"WE The people of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River WILL NEVER stop. The Menominee WIndian Nation ARE very Strong People," Budish said.

Duluth for Clean Water to host "Watershed to Watershed: Lessons from the Back 40 Mine Resistance" May 4 on Zoom

Duluth for Clean Water invites the public to an online discussion with organizers resisting the Back Forty Mine, at 7:30 p.m. EDT (6:30 p.m. CDT) on Tuesday, May 4, via Zoom.

Organizers sharing on this panel and discussion include the following:

Dr. Al Gedicks -- emeritus professor of environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council.**
Anahkwet Guy Reiter -- community organizer, activist, author, amateur archaeologist, lecturer and executive director of Menominee Indian community organization Menīkānaehkem, Inc.
Kathleen M. Heideman -- writer, artist and environmentalist working in Michigan's wild Upper Peninsula and member of the Mining Action Group (part of UPEC, the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition).
Dale Burie -- President of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc.

Join Zoom Meeting HERE.

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* See our Jan. 11, 2021, article, "Water protectors celebrate judge's denial of Back 40 sulfide mine Wetlands Permit."

** See this recent article by Al Gedicks: "Fight Over Proposed Mine by Menominee River has Brought Together Unlikely Allies," on Earth Island Journal.

New Congressional report says current Congress most anti-environmental in history

WASHINGTON, D. C. -- A new Congressional report documents the anti-environment record of the First Session of the 112th U.S. House of Representatives.*

It confirms that the 2011 House of Representatives is the most anti-environment House in the history of Congress and highlights House Republicans’ unrelenting assault on basic environmental protections that have existed for decades. The House has averaged more than one anti-environmental vote for every day it was in session during 2011.

The following statement -- issued Dec. 15, 2011 -- is from Martin Hayden, Earthjustice Vice President of Policy and Legislation:

"Earthjustice commends Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Howard Berman (D-CA) for their stunning and thorough report that underscores the breadth and scope of the House of Representatives’ year-long assault on clean air, clean water, public health, public lands and very future of our planet. The report’s findings are simply breathtaking. Under the leadership of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), the House has voted 191 times to weaken or obliterate environmental protections. Twenty-two percent of all floor votes taken this year have been targeted at denying Americans environmental protections they have long supported. Just this week, Speaker Boehner continued playing political games with our children’s health by burying a provision in the House-passed tax bill to indefinitely delay a long overdue standard to clean up toxic air emissions, including mercury, from industrial boilers and incinerators. The boilers rider would cause thousands of Americans to die unnecessarily every year, and thousands more to suffer serious and debilitating illness."

The report includes examples of Congressional votes and legislation on such topics as blocking efforts to prevent climate change; undermining the Clean Air Act; undermining the Clean Water Act; removing protections for public lands, fish and wildlife; weakening safety requirements for offshore drilling; cutting support for clean energy technologies and programs; allowing unsafe disposal of toxic coal ash; curtailing review of the Keystone XL Pipeline; reducing funding for environmental protection; and obstructing the regulatory process.

* Click here to access this Dec. 15, 2011, report by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Minority Staff.

Editor's Notes: This press release from Earthjustice was forwarded to Keweenaw Now by the Northwood Alliance, Conover, Wis.

Earthjustice update: "On December 21, 2011, the Obama administration issued the first-ever limits on power plants' emissions of mercury, arsenic and other toxic pollutants. Earthjustice played a critical role in achieving these critical protections."

Click here for the Earthjustice Dec. 21, 2011, press release.