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U.S. NEWS Saturday 7 March 2020

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Enbridge hires companies to design, build Great Lakes tunnel

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) common-law doctrine that
— Enbridge Inc. said Fri- holds navigable waters
day it has hired compa- and soils beneath them in
nies to design and build a trust for public uses.
disputed oil pipeline tunnel Bypassing those laws is "one
beneath the channel link- of the most egregious at-
ing Lakes Huron and Michi- tacks on citizens' rights and
gan, despite pending legal sovereign public trust inter-
challenges. est in the Great Lakes in the
The Canadian company is history of the state of Michi-
forging ahead with plans gan," said Jim Olson, the
to begin construction work group's president.
next year on the tunnel, Duffy said Enbridge will
which would replace twin seek construction permits
pipes that have lain across from the Michigan De-
the bottom of the Straits of partment of Environment,
Mackinac in northern Mich- Great Lakes and Energy
igan since 1953. and the U.S. Army Corps of
State Attorney General Engineers.
Dana Nessel is appealing The Michigan Propane Gas
a Michigan Court of Claims Association, which favors
ruling last October that the tunnel project, said it
upheld an agreement be- would "guarantee Michi-
tween Enbridge and former gan residents will have
Republican Gov. Rick Sny- In this June 8, 2017, file photo, fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg the propane they need
der's administration to drill of the pipeline near St. Ignace, Michigan. throughout the state for
the tunnel through bed- Associated Press generations to come." Op-
rock beneath the straits. ponents said there are
The case is before the state Friday to provide a status natural gas liquids used for corridor authority to halt ways to distribute propane
Court of Appeals, which report to the Mackinac propane between Supe- further work on the tunnel without continued opera-
declined to put the lower Straits Corridor Authority rior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, plan. The Traverse City- tion of Line 5.
court ruling on hold while during a meeting in St. Ig- Ontario. A roughly 4-mile based organization argued The Michigan Laborers Dis-
considering the matter. nace, Michigan. The panel (6.4-kilometer) segment that Enbridge had failed to trict Council said the tunnel
Nessel, a Democrat, also was established by the law divides into two pipes that seek authorization for the would provide "many good
has filed a separate law- that approved the tunnel run beneath the Straits of project through the Great paying union jobs" and
suit seeking to shut down agreement. Mackinac. Lakes Submerged Lands boost the northern Michi-
Enbridge's existing Line 5 Great Lakes Tunnel Con- Environmental groups want Act as required under a gan economy.q
pipes. structors, a partnership be- the line decommissioned,
But the company believes tween Jay Dee Contrac- contending the underwa-
its success in court thus far tors Inc. of Livonia, Michi- ter pipes are aging and
creates "a path forward," gan, and the U.S. affiliate vulnerable to a rupture
spokesman Ryan Duffy of Japan-based Obayashi that could do catastrophic
said. Corp., will build the tunnel. damage to the lakes and
"We feel like it's time now Arup, a multinational engi- their shorelines. Enbridge
for Enbridge and the state neering company based says they're in good con-
to work together and keep in London, will design it, En- dition and sustained only
the project moving," he bridge said in a statement. minor damage from a tug-
said. Line 5 each day carries boat anchor strike in 2018.
Enbridge, based in Cal- 23 million gallons (87 mil- For Love of Water, an ad-
gary, Alberta, planned lion liters) of crude oil and vocacy group, urged the