Is Biden Leaning Toward a Tunnel for Line 5?

Administration confirms study about tunnel impact is underway

By Lynda Wheatley | Nov. 12, 2021

Hot on the heels of the Climate Summit in Glasgow, many Michiganders’ high hopes for global cooperation in combatting climate change took a hit at home last week.

President Joe Biden, who has so far styled himself a leader in environmental concerns, is looking less so after two Politico stories last week reported Biden intends to “confer” with Enbridge over a 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty, which Canada has, in an effort to keep Line 5 flowing, invoked several times in the ongoing State of Michigan v. Enbridge case. (Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revoked the state’s easement with Enbridge in November 2020; the company has so far resisted that order.)

The day after the second Politico story ran, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing that the Biden administration hasn’t made a decision on Line 5 but confirmed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying the impacts of a tunnel-enclosed pipeline.

That the study undertaken is focused on the impact of the proposed tunnel rather than the impact of shutting down Line 5 has sent shockwaves across Michigan’s many environmental groups and 12 federally recognized tribes that oppose the continued operation of the 78-year-old pipeline.

The Biden administration prevented the crucial permit needed to build the Keystone XL pipeline and Biden himself promised world leaders in Glasgow that the United States would lead the fight against climate change.