As the public stands up for the Lakes, drinking water and jobs, Grand Traverse County Board tables pro-tunnel resolution
Photo: FLOW Deputy Director Kelly Thayer speaks to the Grand Traverse County Board in opposition to a pro-oil tunnel resolution.
By Kelly Thayer
Confronted at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday by a full audience passionately and unanimously against a proposed Line 5 oil tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac, the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners voted today to temporarily table a misguided and error-filled resolution supporting the oil tunnel. (Click here to view a video of the meeting, once posted by the county).
Some commissioners also could be heard chatting among themselves before the meeting about the voluminous amount of emailed comments against the oil tunnel that they also received in the hours leading up to the session, as local citizen groups spread the word of the pending vote.
While the outcome was received as a temporary victory in the moment by many in attendance, vigilance still is required. The resolution, which had been expected to gain quick approval, will likely come back for reconsideration — perhaps at a tentatively scheduled 8 a.m., August 14, study session — and then a possible vote at the Grand Traverse County Board’s next regular meeting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, August 21, at the Governmental Center at 400 Boardman Ave. in Traverse City.
“I was elected to work for the public interest and the people of Grand Traverse County, not the bottom line of a foreign oil company with a troubling safety record and equally troubling transparency practices,” said Commissioner Betsy Coffia after the meeting, who was prepared to oppose the symbolic resolution. “Enbridge pays a lot of lobbyists and lawyers to carry water for them. I don’t think it’s the job of the Grand Traverse County Commission to do that work for them.”
Only one county in Michigan—Dickinson in the Upper Peninsula—to date has approved the model resolution that bears close resemblance to talking points that Line 5-owner Enbridge has circulated for many months. The resolution tabled by Grand Traverse County Commissioners proposes to send “this resolution to all counties of Michigan as an invitation to join in expressing support” for the oil tunnel owned by Canadian-based Enbridge.
Dozens of people representing themselves, families, Indian tribes, businesses, environmental groups, and others attended and many spoke up against the oil tunnel and for protection of the Great Lakes, drinking water, public trust and tribal rights, and the Pure Michigan tourist economy.
FLOW and its team of lawyers, scientists, engineers, and an international risk expert since 2013 have studied the increasing threat from Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac and, more recently, the proposed Line 5 oil tunnel.
FLOW Deputy Director Kelly Thayer read a statement calling on the county board to reject the oil tunnel resolution, which in its first sentence, incorrectly states the age of the decaying pipeline and claims an admirable safety record that is at odds with the reality that Line 5 has leaked at least 33 times, spilling a total of 1.1 million gallons of oil in Michigan and Wisconsin.
“It is critical for the Grand Traverse Board of County Commissioners to understand that—with the proposed resolution in your packet—the Board is being asked to interfere in ongoing litigation between the State of Michigan and Enbridge,” Thayer said. “In addition, there are at least four other active lawsuits against Enbridge and Line 5. Therefore, this type of resolution is misguided and not in Grand Traverse County’s, nor the public, interest.”
In March, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel found that the tunnel bill that became law was unconstitutional. In early June, Enbridge sued the State of Michigan to resuscitate the tunnel legislation. And in late June, the State of Michigan sued Enbridge to revoke the 1953 easement that conditionally authorized Enbridge to pump oil through the twin pipelines.
Attorney General Nessel’s lawsuit alleges that Enbridge’s continued operation of Line 5 in the Straits violates the Public Trust Doctrine, is a common law public nuisance, and violates the Michigan Environmental Protection Act based on potential pollution, impairment, and destruction of water and other natural resources.
“Why would the current Grand Traverse County Board, which—to our knowledge—has never studied nor discussed the threat from Line 5, take a leap of faith in supporting a Canadian oil pipeline company’s alternative that diverts attention from the real problem—the bent, cracked, and encrusted oil pipelines in the Straits?,” Thayer asked.
Enbridge wants the right to bore a tunnel in the next 5-10 years for Line 5 through State of Michigan public trust bottomlands under the Straits, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron.
Enbridge also wants to keep pumping up to 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids a day through the decaying, 66-year-old Line 5 pipelines in the Straits during tunnel feasibility studies and construction. An oil tunnel also would fail to address the risk posed by Line 5’s more than 400 stream and river crossings in the Upper and Lower Peninsulas and would conflict with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s plans to combat climate change.
The City of Mackinac Island, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and the Straits of Mackinac Alliance citizen group also have filed a contested case challenging Enbridge’s claim that installing hundreds of anchor supports to shore up the decaying Line 5 is mere maintenance, rather than a major redesign requiring an application and alternatives analysis under the 1955 Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (GLSLA) and public trust law that apply to the soils and waters of the Great Lakes. Line 5-related lawsuits against the U.S. Coast Guard and against Enbridge in Wisconsin also continue.
FLOW and other Great Lakes advocates have long called for shutting down Line 5, which primarily serves Canada’s, not Michigan’s, needs and threatens the Great Lakes. FLOW research shows that viable alternatives exist to deliver propane to Michigan and oil to regional refineries, and Gov. Whitmer has formed an Upper Peninsula Energy Task Force to identify energy supply options. The system can adjust with smart planning.
You can learn more by visiting FLOW’s Line 5 program page and by downloading a copy of FLOW’s latest:
- Line 5 fact sheet
- Line 5 bulleted list of key facts.
And you can contact the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners here:
- Rob Hentschel, chair, rhentschel@grandtraverse.org or 231-946-4277
- Ron Clous, vice chair, rclous@grandtraverse.org or 231-590-3316
- Brad Jewett (introduced the pro-tunnel resolution) bjewett@grandtraverse.org or 231-633-9421
- Betsy Coffia, bcoffia@grandtraverse.org or 231-714-9598
- Bryce Hundley, bhundley@grandtraverse.org or 231-753-8602
- Gordie LaPointe, glapointe@grandtraverse.org or 231-409-2607
- Sonny Wheelock, swheelock@grandtraverse.org or 231-947-3277
So proud of our community. Thank u.
we in the EUP, are very proud of them too. Please accept our thanks for the opposition. Nothing, good will come from a pipeline. Ever
No mention of climate collapse and the need to move away from burning fossil fuels in this conversation? The threat Line 5 poses is about water and much more. The window is closing. “FLOW and other Great Lakes advocates have long called for shutting down Line 5, which primarily serves Canada’s, not Michigan’s, needs and threatens the Great Lakes. FLOW research shows that viable alternatives exist to deliver propane to Michigan and oil to regional refineries, and Gov. Whitmer has formed an Upper Peninsula Energy Task Force to identify energy supply options. The system can adjust with smart planning.”
Shut it down entirely. It is serving Canada’s interest, not Michigan’s. Thank you to the people that stood up for our Great Lakes and thank you to the officials who listened.
“Some commissioners also could be heard chatting among themselves before the meeting about the voluminous amount of emailed comments against the oil tunnel that they also received in the hours leading up to the session”…Discussion like this should probably take place during the meeting and not outside of the meeting just to make sure the Open Meetings Act isn’t violated.
It is not an issue of IF it fails, it is an issue of WHEN it fails.
Thank you, Grand Traverse County residents, for speaking up with facts and sound knowledge.
I’m not sure of the reasons behind the move to SUPPORT the ENBRIDGE tunnel activity, you’d think the recent explosion of a pipeline over the weekend would have given the GT Co Commissioners some pause but nooo….! What I personally find soo insidious is the idea of not only making this mistake for GT Co residents BUT personally asking all of the other municipalities to support this makes me wonder about some kind of incentives they are reaching for…BAD MOVE! SHUT DOWN PIPELINE 5 period! NOW!!!
we in the EUP, are very proud of them too. Please accept our thanks for the opposition. Nothing, good will come from a pipeline. Ever
Enbridge and Nestle are enemies of THIS state! Every county in the state needs to band together to fight for Michigan’s environment and demand that our government protect, conserve, preserve, clean up and defend our waters, soil, air, wildlife and humankind and stop shielding and embracing greedy, destructive profiteers, whether foreign or domestic – although admittedly, knowing it is Swiss corporate giant Nestle and Canadian corporate giant Enbridge destroying MICHIGAN’s environment makes it harder to take. ALL of Michigan needs to wake up! What will it take to bring all of this insanity to a screeching halt! We cannot wait for the Straits to be yet another Enbridge oil spill, yet another Deepwater Horizon! Enbridge and Nestle OUT of Michigan!