Press Release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 14, 2025
Climate Activists Confront Governor Whitmer Over Line 5 Tunnel Permit at Governor’s Awards Ceremony
Governor Whitmer Deflects on Enbridge’s Experimental Tunnel Project Threatening the Great Lakes
LANSING, MI — Seven Climate Defiance activists interrupted Michigan’s Governor’s Service Awards ceremony Wednesday night to demand that Governor Gretchen Whitmer reject the permit for Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac.
Following the governor’s speech, which celebrated a Marathon refinery volunteer among others — concerned Michiganders directly asked Whitmer if she would protect the Great Lakes by denying Enbridge’s tunnel permit.
Whitmer returned to the stage but deflected, claiming Line 5 is “under litigation in the courts.” While Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is suing to revoke the current pipeline’s easement, the tunnel permit remains a separate decision before the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) — a permit that Whitmer has the power to reject.
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“The tunnel is a false solution,” said Maya Albright, an organizer with Climate Defiance.” Enbridge is trying to keep Line 5 running despite catastrophic risks to one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater and the drinking water of 40 million people.
Governor Whitmer campaigned on shutting down Line 5. Will she protect the Great Lakes or bow to Trump’s manufactured energy emergency and a foreign oil corporation with a history of catastrophic spills?”
Every Tribal nation in Michigan opposes the project for the environmental and cultural destruction it poses. Enbridge’s real estate dealings near the proposed tunnel’s construction site have already resulted in the paving over of a historical Odawa village. The straits are home to 440 archaeological sites, many of them already violated by the expired Line 5 pipeline.
The Michigan Department of Transportation has raised multiple red flags about the project. A hazardous liquids pipeline tunnel of this length and depth in these geologic conditions in the Straits has never been attempted. Similar tunnels worldwide have an 80% failure rate. The geological testing for the tunnel project is dangerously inadequate. Enbridge has sampled bedrock once every 950 feet — far below the industry standard of once every 50-250 feet. Most core samples were not at a sufficient depth either. Only one rock sample has been taken along the 11,000 feet of the deepest, most critical point below the Straits, and there is a stretch of 1.3 miles that is completely unsampled.
Line 5 itself is a ticking time bomb. It was completed in 1953 with a 50-year planned lifespan (now 72 years old). In 2020, Governor Whitmer revoked the 1953 easement due to repeated violations by Enbridge.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, Enbridge continues to operate illegally in the Straits, threatening to devastate the backbone of Michigan’s $6 trillion industry, along with crucial habitats and fisheries central to Tribal treaty rights.
“Governor Whitmer, people all over Michigan know that Line 5 is a danger to the Great Lakes and a catastrophic oil spill is imminent,” said Valerie Blakely of Riverwise Magazine. “We urge Governor Whitmer to do everything that is within her power to deny the experimental tunnel permit and Shut Down Line 5. We are counting on you to do the right thing.”
Enbridge would transfer ownership of the tunnel to Michigan taxpayers, making the state responsible for maintenance and liability. The State of Michigan is the legal trustee of the Straits of Mackinac and has the power and duty to protect them for the benefit of all Michiganders.
Climate Defiance calls on Governor Whitmer and the EGLE Department to deny the Line 5 tunnel permit immediately.
From Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network:
Breaking: Enbridge Starts Construction-Related Activities for Line 5 Pipeline Reroute
Despite Enbridge being prohibited from moving forward with full construction pending the outcome of a contested case hearing with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over the project’s permits, local residents report photographs and observations showing that Enbridge “has commenced activities such as logging, preparing construction matting, and securing temporary worker housing around the Bad River Reservation in anticipation of rerouting a segment of their Line 5 pipeline.”
The Great Lakes — home to treaty-protected, sovereign Tribal Nations — are too important to risk for oil company profits. They hold 20% of the world’s surface fresh water and provide clean drinking water to 40 million people.
Instead of investing in new pipelines, we must phase out fossil fuels, stand with Tribal Nations, advocate for a Just Transition, and defend our precious, interconnected ecosystems. While at COP30, WECAN remains steadfast in generating a global movement to end the tyranny of fossil fuels and extractions.
WECAN has been honored to facilitate the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, a group of Indigenous women leaders from the Great Lakes region, to resist the advancement of the Line 5 pipeline, and we will continue to work with partners to #StopLine5!
Protect the Great Lakes! End the era of fossil fuels!Learn more in the Communities United by Water Press Release, here 
https://tinyurl.com/yru2va5t
https://tinyurl.com/yru2va5t
