Activists Drop Banner on Minneapolis Bridge to Urge Michigan Governor to Block Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel

On Tuesday morning, activists lowered a “Stop Line 5” banner from Minneapolis’s Stone Arch Bridge over Mississippi River, with signs reading “WHITMER DENY THE LINE 5 TUNNEL PERMIT, OR WE WILL HAUNT YOU” and “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? THE GREAT LAKES? OR TRUMPS PIPELINE?”. Three Waters Pipeline Resistance, Sunrise Twin Cities, and Climate Defiance Minnesota organized the protest urging Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to reject the permits.

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Line 5 is a 645-mile pipeline owned by Canadian Enbridge, transporting about 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural-gas liquids each day from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario. One contested plan proposes a 21-foot-wide concrete tunnel drilled horizontally beneath Straits of Mackinac, which separate Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Straits are sacred to Anishinaabe of Bay Mills Indian Community, which opposes the project. Activists warn construction would discharge over six million gallons of wastewater for six years and threaten 20 % of world’s freshwater.

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The Michigan Public Service Commission approved Enbridge’s tunnel application in December 2023. The project now seeks permits from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and federal agencies. In January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an energy-emergency declaration that fast-tracked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ review, granting emergency status in April 2025. Officials say commission’s approval meets regulatory standards; federal authorities cite the declaration for expedited processing.

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Activists cite Enbridge’s past Minnesota violations—aquifer breaches, groundwater releases, drilling-mud spills, and a $3.32 million fine for Clearbrook aquifer breach. They argue expanding fossil-fuel infrastructure contradicts visible climate impacts, noting persistent Midwest wildfire smoke each summer. Indigenous leaders stress the Straits’ cultural importance and danger of contaminating a vital water source. The campaign also warns of oil spill threatening Great Lakes.

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• “Stop Line 5” — Banner displayed on the Stone Arch Bridge

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• “The Midwest is choking on wildfire smoke from climate change every summer,” — Tom Hoy, Three Waters Pipeline Resistance activist

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• “Gretchen Whitmer needs to grow a spine, stand up to Trump and deny the Line 5 permits. We’re sending a message that the community in Minnesota will fight this pipeline just like we fought Enbridge’s Line 3,” — Tom Hoy

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• “it is unacceptable to risk 20% of the world’s freshwater to develop new fossil fuel infrastructure in 2026 when the damage from climate change is obvious and accelerating.” — Activists

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The EGLE permit decision, slated for later this year, will determine the tunnel’s fate. Anticipated legal challenges from Indigenous groups and environmental NGOs suggest the controversy will continue, while activists plan demonstrations in Michigan and Minnesota.

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