Enbridge Energy's plans to build a protective tunnel around an aging pipeline that runs beneath a channel connecting two Great Lakes can continue, a Michigan appeals court ruled. The state Public Service Commission properly issued permits for the $500 million project,

Environmental groups, tribes had challenged Michigan Public Service Commission approval for Enbridge to build a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac.

The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld a permit for Enbridge Energy’s plan to bury an oil pipeline beneath the environmentally sensitive Straits of Mackinac.

The tunnel would be constructed around a four-mile section of pipeline but more permits are still needed before the project can receive the green light.