The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is accepting public comments right now through June 30, 2026, on a critical water discharge permit for Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 oil tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac—one of the most ecologically sensitive stretches of freshwater on the planet.

The proposed permit is startlingly bad. Enbridge is asking the state to authorize dumping of nearly 7 million gallons per day of industrial construction wastewater directly into the Straits, where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet. The discharge would come from tunnel boring, excavation, hydrostatic testing, and groundwater seepage. The permit also allows an unlimited amount of stormwater runoff—which carries suspended solids, dissolved solids, chlorides, oil, grease, and undisclosed construction chemicals into the waters that millions of people and countless wildlife species rely on.

This permit has serious gaps that EGLE must not ignore. Scientists recommended enforceable pollution limits—and the permit writers removed them. There is no analysis of how the combined discharges from all these outfalls will harm the waters and ecology of the Straits. Silt smothers fish eggs, and the silt would come at a time when populations of the iconic whitefish are already crashing. During summer months the proposed permit has no enforceable temperature limits at all, and water temperature is key to fish health.

EGLE is also expected to release drafts for additional Clean Water Act Section 404 permits for the tunnel project in July—and those should be denied as well.

A tunnel doesn’t solve the 73-year-old Line 5 problem. It extends it for another generation, locking Michigan into aging oil infrastructure and new threats to the Great Lakes for decades to come. Please use the form below to personalize and send your comment before June 30th! Then share with a friend and speak out at the virtual public hearing on June 18th, 6–9pm.

Please use the template at right to personalize and email your message now. Thank you for helping to defend the future of the Great Lakes!