After years of working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) on developing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Enbridge Line 5 oil tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, seven Michigan tribes have given notice that they “are no longer willing to expend their time and resources as Cooperating Agencies just so their participation may be used by the Corps to lend credibility to a flawed EIS process and document.”
In a strongly written letter to the federal agency tasked with overseeing permitting for the proposed pipeline tunnel, the leaders of the Bay Mills Indian Community, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Sault Sainte 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 gave notice that they are withdrawing as cooperating agencies. The tribes cited the ACE determination that the proposed tunnel falls under President Trump’s Executive Order Declaring a National Energy Emergency and the expected imminent issuance of permits for this project. The Little Traverse Bay Band later withdrew as well.
Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, in an interview with Interlochen Public Radio (IPR), explained “what we saw time and time again is that no matter how much evidence we collected, no matter what type of comments we provided, all of that was disregarded by the Corps. Now we can do what we need to do outside of the process.” Litigation of the ACE final decision is one of the options being considered by the tribes.
“When you're trying to convey that type of existential crisis that you're trying to prevent, and all you're met with is this robotic, monotone answer, that, too, creates additional frustrations,” Gravelle told IPR. “You know they're not really listening to you. You know they're not hearing what you have to say. You know that they're not even thinking about what's going to happen to you.”