Enbridge Energy Partners, the company gaining notoriety for a July 25 oil spill that released nearly one million gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River, has applied to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to allow for construction of additional anchoring braces to two of their offshore pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac.

A similar project was authorized as recently as 2006 as part of a routine maintenance program. The pipes are on the bottom of Lake Michigan, between Emmet and Mackinac counties. To perform work on the lake bottom requires both federal and state permits.

The company is asking to use anchoring braces in 10 alreadyidentified locations where the soil underneath the pipeline has eroded, with the possibility of constructing additional braces under the same permit, if further investigation determines they are needed,

The DNRE has made the permit available for public comment for a period of 20 days from the August 27 filing date, meaning the deadline for public input is Thursday, September 16. Copies of the permit have also been e-mailed to the township and county governments affected by this, adjacent personal property owners, the fishery and wildlife division of the DNRE, and the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.

Those who want to comment on this project should contact the DNRE Gaylord Field Office Attn: John Arevalo at (989) 731-4920 or 2100 West M-32, Gaylord, MI 49735-9282. So far, no comments have been received. If the permit goes through in time, the company hopes to start this project as soon as possible, in mid to late-September.

“This is a pretty routine application,” said Mr. Arevalo, the Cadillac District Supervisor of the Water Resources Division of the DNRE. “However, it isn't like the typical project where you can stand on shore and see it.”