Line 5 matters to Michigan workers, and we hope Michigan permitters will remember that this month as they consider permits to build the Great Lakes Tunnel.

This is a big month for the Tunnel project. Federal permitters just wrapped up a long public comment period, and throughout August, the Michigan department responsible for permitting the project is soliciting public feedback, too.

Labor unions across the state are asking them to grant the permits, and we’re excited by the progress we’re seeing on the road to construction.

Michigan workers support construction of the Tunnel because they know it just makes sense. Once finished, the Tunnel will protect the environment, our energy independence and family budgets. But it also means jobs, and more than just those it’ll create during construction.

Jeff Pilarski is business manager of Laborers Local 1098 in Saginaw. (Courtesy photo)

If you’re reading this column, you’re using oil products. If you’re on a smartphone or a computer or a tablet, you’re using oil products. If you drove to work this morning or took the kids to school in the family car, you were using oil products. If you used over-the-counter painkillers or prescription drugs last week, or visited a hospital or urgent care or went camping with the family in a tent or RV, you’ve been using oil products.

Odds are pretty good a union member helped make or ship or deliver those products, too.

Most of us rarely think about the importance of the fuel that Line 5 delivers, or the people who use it, because it all happens so safely and seamlessly.

Reality is, though, for countless products and services, every step of the supply chain, every step of the sales process and every part of our daily lives is impacted by Line 5. Talk about jobs. Talk about paychecks. Talk about improving the economy.

The pipeline safely makes all that possible, and the Great Lakes Tunnel will move those fuel products even more safely.

Line 5 already safely moves 540,000 barrels of energy across the region every day. Part of that fuel supply includes propane — 55% of the state’s overall propane supply and 65% of the Upper Peninsula’s propane.

Building the Tunnel will protect the energy supply chain for generations.

The Tunnel is also about protecting the Great Lakes.

Experts have studied the proposal and came to the kind of conclusion that can put everyone’s mind at ease: Building the Tunnel deep below the lakebed would make the risk of a spill in the Great Lakes virtually zero.

Safety and prevention are the top priority of Tunnel builders. Its design, construction, operation, inspection, and maintenance along with those leak detection systems make it something the entire state can be proud of and something we can trust.

Of course, the Tunnel project is about energy affordability too.

A report from The Consumer Energy Alliance noted that without Line 5 the state would pay up to $2 billion more per year for fuel. In other words, Line 5 — and the Tunnel — save Michiganders $2 billion a year!

Now it’s time for permits. Our members are using their voices all month to ask state permitters at EGLE to approve construction of the Tunnel, and we’re inviting you to stand with us.

This isn’t a partisan issue. Frankly, it isn’t even a contentious one.

We all realize the importance of modernizing our energy infrastructure. We all want to protect our Great Lakes. We all want to support great jobs.

Let’s get to work.

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