2024
Our top 3 highlights:
January 2024
January 1, 2024; 9&10 News
For Love of Water files appeal to overturn approval of Enbridge’s Line 5 relocation
“For Love of Water filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn the Michigan Public Service Commission’s approval of Enbridge’s application to relocate Line 5 to a proposed underground tunnel.”
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January 10, 2024; IPR
“All those livestock produce a lot of liquid waste filled with animal feces, pharmaceuticals, hormones, heavy metals and also nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen — a mixture that’s often applied to fields as fertilizer. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, also known as EGLE, sets conditions for how farmers should apply all that waste. The idea is to prevent those pollutants, largely excess nutrients, from running off the farm and into surface water.”
February 2024
February 1, 2024; Food and Water Watch
Rep. Garamendi Aims to Steer Clean Water Funding to For-Profit Corporations
“We cannot allow the corporate water lobby to take federal clean water funding away from our municipal sewer systems. The Clean Water SRF Parity Act would serve to grease the wheels on sewer privatization, and would harm disadvantaged communities already struggling to access the Clean Water State Revolving Funds. Congress must reject the Clean Water SRF Parity Act, and provide reliable funding to our publicly owned wastewater providers to help keep services safe, reliable and affordable service and protect the environment.”
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February 9, 2024; Great Lakes Now
What a permitting debacle in Fremont could mean for biodigesters across Michigan
“Digesters are a growing industry in Michigan. They take organic matter — like food waste or manure — and break it down in an oxygen-free environment. The gases that process emits are burned to generate electricity. The Fremont facility does that mostly with manufacturing food waste – milk jugs, energy drinks, baby food, jellies and juices that are too close to expiration date to sell.”
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February 12, 2024; Michigan Advance
Bad River Band and Enbridge offer oral arguments in Line 5 shutdown appeal
“The suit began in 2019, when the Bad River Band took action to remove the pipeline from their territory in Wisconsin after refusing to renew an easement on the pipeline that travels through the Bad River reservation, citing environmental concerns. While the easement expired in 2013, Enbridge refused to remove the pipeline from the parcels of land owned entirely, or partly by the tribe.”
March 2024
March 20, 2024; Great Lakes Now
International nuclear energy expert questions Michigan’s Palisades restart
“In a series of email exchanges with Great Lakes Now, Schneider said construction on Palisades started in 1967, and it was connected to the grid in 1971. He said spending over a billion dollars in an attempt to “bring back to service life a machine of an entirely different technological era is a stunning idea.”
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March 22, 2024; The Center Square
Sides present arguments on Line 5 jurisdiction at 6th Circuit
“Nessel’s office argued Thursday before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the jurisdiction of the pipeline pumping about 540,000 gallons of hydrocarbons daily across the lakebed of Lake Michigan since 1953 belongs in state courts.”
April 2024
April 3, 2024; UpNorth Live
Environmental film ‘The Smell of Money’ to be screened in Traverse City
“‘The Smell of Money’ is a David vs Goliath tale of one woman’s battle against one of the world’s largest pork companies to reclaim her right to clean air, clean water and to protect her beloved community,” states a release from the Old Town Playhouse. “The evening is FREE to attend and will include tabling with local partners, food, a cash bar, and a guest panel discussion after the film. No ticket necessary.”
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April 10, 2024; Petoskey News Review
“Environmental steward, conservationist, art and nature lover, actor and philanthropist John Monroe Frey passed away peacefully in his Charlevoix, Mich. home on March 28, 2024, surrounded by family. He was 84.”
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April 10, 2024; The Sierra Club
Line 5 Pipeline: DOJ Draws Rebuke from Green Groups, Businesses
“The Environmental Law & Policy Center is disappointed the US government chose not to fully support the Bad River Band over the federal district court’s decision that Enbridge’s oil pipeline must stop trespassing on the Band’s Tribal lands by June 2026,” said Environmental Law & Policy Center Executive Director Howard Learner.”
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April 11, 2024; The Toledo Blade
Effort to overturn Line 5 tunnel permit is filed in Michigan court
“For Love of Water, a group known as FLOW, said it has filed a brief in the Michigan Court of Appeals to challenge the decision. The appeal was filed on behalf of it and other environmental groups, as well as some Native American tribes.”
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April 16, 2024; The Daily Mining Gazette
Criticism voiced at public hearing
“Carrie La Seur, legal director for For Love of Water, in Traverse City, commented on the legal standards applied to all Michigan agency decisions, including mineral leasing, DNR’s obligations with water and the plain English of the Michigan’s mineral leasing rule. “Michigan’ constitution,” said La Seur, “does not allow state legislators or regulators to neglect their environmental protection duties.””
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April 19, 2024; EWG
What they’re saying about the EPA’s ‘hazardous substances’ designation for two PFAS
“Liz Kirkwood, executive director, For Love of Water: “Here in Michigan, we’ve seen first-hand what happens when the ‘polluter pays’ principle falls by the wayside, particularly in vulnerable communities. As we fight to bring back polluter responsibility at the state level, we applaud the EPA’s action at the federal level to fully recognize the dangers of PFOA and PFOS chemicals, and move to hold polluting corporations responsible. This action by the EPA and the Biden-Harris administration is a win for human health and for environmental justice.”
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April 22, 2023; The Mining Journal
U.P. corporation seeks 10K acres of mineral right
“Multiple attendees also said they felt the DNR was failing to deliver on its duties as stated in its legislative mandate. Carrie La Seur, legal director at For the Love of Water in Traverse City, pointed out that the DNR’s mandate places its highest priority as “the conservation and development of the natural resources of the state.” It further reads: “The legislature shall provide for the protection of the air, water and other natural resources of the state from pollution, impairment and destruction.”
May 2024
May 1, 2024; The Toledo Blade
Enbridge hires its two lead contractors to build Line 5 tunnel
“Two contractors were hired to lead the tunnel excavation for the Line 5 pipeline, which as been controversial among green groups in the midwest.”
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May 1, 2024; Traverse City Record-Eagle
Enbridge signs contractors for tunnel project
Read more about the tunnel project here.
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May 5, 2024; The Toledo Blade
Fight to save Lake Erie needs uprising, a battle against norms, Lucas County lawyer says
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May 9, 2024; Michigan Advance
After 15 years of the Great Lakes Compact, report urges state action to address shortcomings
“‘The commercialization of water sanctioned by the Compact is both a short and long-term threat. Water extraction for bottling and sale threatens sensitive local ecosystems where groundwater pumping impacts wetlands and stream levels,” FLOW’s report said. “An even bigger long-term threat: allowing the sale of Great Lakes waters risks diminishing public control of the Great Lakes — and reducing the Great Lakes themselves.’”
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May 23, 2024; Great Lakes Commission
A Conversation with lifelong Great Lakes advocate Jane Elder & FLOW
“Weaving together memories from her life in the upper Midwest with nearly fifty years of environmental policy advocacy work, Jane Elder provides a uniquely moving insider’s perspective into the quest to protect the Great Lakes and surrounding public lands, from past battles to protect Michigan wilderness and shape early management strategies for the national lakeshores to present fights against toxic pollution and climate change. She argues that endless cycles of resource exploitation and boom and bust created a ‘rust belt’ legacy that still threatens our capacity for resilience. The author lays out the challenges that lie ahead and invites us to imagine bold new strategies through which we might thrive.”
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May 28, 2024; The Sault News
Mackinac Island Community Foundation announces spring grant awards
“‘This support allows our island and local organizations to address pressing issues in our community, through education, mental health services, capacity building and more. We’re also pleased to be granting toward further housing opportunities for the seventh year in a row,” said executive director Stephanie McGreevy in a press release.”
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May 28, 2024; The University of Michigan School of Information
A leak in the system: How UMSI students confronted a statewide septic system crisis
“Imagine, in Michigan, a couple has just purchased a home — there are no worrisome disclosures, no big repairs to take on. On the first warm weekend, they lay down mulch to plant perennials. Kneeling in the grass, they are unaware that a few feet below ground, their septic system has begun to malfunction, leaking waste into parts of their yard and polluting a nearby stream.”
June 2024
June 6, 2024; ProPublica
A Bottled Water Company in Michigan Is Still Extracting Millions of Gallons of Water for Free
“‘When it comes to Nestle, I don’t believe that they should be taking the water out of our ground and selling it, and I want to stop that,” Whitmer said in a gubernatorial debate.”
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June 7, 2024; News Channel 3
Michigan lawmakers advocate for septic tank inspection standards
“We have this incredibly complicated patchwork of governance. We’ve got 83 counties, we’ve got 1,300 townships,” said Kirkwood. “And right now, they all seem to have their own rules or none at all when it comes to inspecting the $1.3 million backyard septic systems in our state.”
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July 2024
July 3, 2024; The Benzie Record Patriot
Premiere of ‘Troubled Water’ with filmmaker Q&A slated for Garden Theater
“A new Great Lakes adventure-conservation documentary, “Troubled Water,” will be screened at the Garden Theater in Frankfort on July 19, including a question-and-answer session with filmmakers and actors William Wright and Chris Yahanda.”
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July 15, 2024; The Northern Express
No End in Sight for Line 5 Conflict
“‘This case never should have left state court in the first place, and after this long delay caused by Enbridge’s procedural manipulations, we’re elated to welcome Nessel v. Enbridge back to its rightful judicial venue,” Nessel said in a statement. “The State has an obligation and imperative to protect the Great Lakes from the threat of pollution, especially the devastating catastrophe a potential Line 5 rupture would wreak upon all of Michigan. As we’ve long argued, this is a Michigan case brought under Michigan law that the People of Michigan and its courts should rightly decide.'”
August 2024
August 3, 2024; Michigan Public Radio
“The 5-2 decision issued Wednesday is one of the most significant environmental protection measures in Michigan in years. It comes after four years of battles between state officials and operators of poultry and hog feeding operations and large dairies over regulatory efforts to reduce agriculture-related water pollution. Farm-related nitrates and phosphorus have fouled Lake Erie and other state waters for decades.”
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August 7, 2024; Investigate Midwest
Michigan lands a victory in effort to rein in polluting farm waste
“‘In the context of factory farms taking over rural areas there is, finally, recognition that regulatory bodies have authority for managing nutrient and animal waste pollution,” said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of Traverse City-based For Love of Water, a water law and policy center that intervened in support of the state. “It’s huge.'”
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August 30, 2024; Michigan Advance
Environmental advocates oppose new permit for Fremont digester
“FLOW, alongside the Michigan Farmers Union, Michigan Lakes and Streams Association, Michiganders for a Just Farming System, Progress Michigan, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Fremont-area farmer Kathleen Morrison have also called on EGLE to hold a public hearing in or near Fremont to discuss measures needed to operate the digester safely.”
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August 30, 2024; Sierra Club
Over 150k Public Comments Oppose Federal Permits for Line 5 Pipeline
“After willfully trespassing on the Bad River Band reservation for over a decade, Enbridge now proposes to build 41 miles of new pipeline around and upstream of the reservation’s boundaries. The reroute would involve blasting, horizontal drilling, or trenching across hundreds of wetlands and streams, threatening the same watershed and treaty rights as the current pipeline. The reroute also poses the risk of a catastrophic oil spill contaminating Lake Superior, the largest and healthiest of the Great Lakes that provide drinking water for around 40 million people.”
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August 30, 2024; MyMLSA.org
“Anaerobic digesters use bacteria to decompose organic waste (such as commercial food waste and factory farm sewage) and generate biogas. The byproduct of this process is a concentrated sludge called ‘digestate.’ The digestate – often full of heavy metals and biological hazards – is held in massive cesspits, then sprayed on fields as ‘fertilizer.’”
September 2024
September 4, 2024; Bridge Michigan
Report: Michigan’s weak pollution cleanups are costing future generations
“That’s according to a new report from researchers at Michigan State University and the nonprofit FLOW (For Love of Water) that recommends changing Michigan law to make it harder for polluters to avoid cleaning up their mess.
‘If it continues to remain easier and less costly to write off aquifers in which contaminants may take many decades to break down, we may see more examples of Michigan communities without access to clean drinking water,’ said Glenn O’Neil, an environmental scientist at the MSU Institute of Water Research and a co-author of the report.”
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September 4, 2024; NowKalamazoo
County landfill featured in study of state water pollution regulation
“A shuttered Oshtemo Township toxic waste site is one of seven examples in a new damning study of Michigan’s corporate pollution. Also: A county election official is sued for claiming he won’t do his job. And WMU and its professors’ union are still at odds on a new compensation structure.”
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September 14, 2024; Circle of Blue
Environmental Groups Face Off With EPA to Control Manure Pollution
“For the third time in two decades the Environmental Protection Agency appeared in federal Appellate Court this week to defend its admittedly flawed approach to regulating the billions of pounds of manure running off into the nation’s waters from large industrial animal feeding operations. But unlike the previous Appellate Court cases in 2005 and 2011, when the plaintiffs were the major agricultural trade organizations seeking to weaken or eliminate agency regulations, this time the case was brought by 13 national and local environmental organizations arguing that after years of inaction EPA needs to drastically strengthen its oversight.”
October 2024
October 3, 2024; Great Lakes Now
Michigan’s New Rules To Protect Water From Manure Attacked By Lawmakers
“The action by the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy gained powerful legal justification in late July when the Michigan Supreme Court decided that EGLE has full authority to “take all necessary steps” to ensure that manure produced by Michigan’s industrial-scale livestock and poultry feeding operations do not pollute state waters.”
November 2024
November 4, 2024; MLive
In Michigan farm country, water worries fuel a biogas permit fight
“It was April 27, 2020 and Kathy Morrison found herself suddenly fielding calls and messages about a liquid waste product called “digestate” that was escaping a nearby farm and flooding a neighboring home’s backyard.
Managers with the Fremont Regional Digester, which made the stinky liquid out of food manufacturing waste and manure, wanted to know where the problem was.”
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November 8, 2024; Detroit News
Opinion: Kirkwood: Pass legislation to protect our water from Big Tech
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November 12, 2024; Great Lakes Now
“A 2022 report titled Promises Half Kept at the Half Century Mark, by the Environmental Integrity Project, released on the Clean Water Act’s 50th anniversary said the law is “falling short of its original goals.”
Michigan, for example, has the 4th largest number of impaired lakes, reservoirs and streams assessed for water contact recreation in the U.S.”
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November 17, 2024; Planet Detroit
Michigan’s environmental groups demand urgent action in lame duck session
“‘We called for comprehensive climate and energy reform, and Michigan got it in 2023,” MEC spokesperson Beau Brockett told Planet Detroit. Now it’s essential to make sure the legislation is implemented correctly, Brockett said, acknowledging that the incoming Trump administration will look less favorably on climate and energy programs from President Biden’s term.”
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November 25, 2024; The Traverse City Record-Eagle
‘EYES ON THE WATER’ Ops center prepares for storms in the Straits
December 2024
December 5, 2024; Interlochen Public Radio
Traverse City policy group weighs in on state’s Line 5 lawsuit
“A Traverse City-based environmental nonprofit group has weighed in on a lawsuit between Michigan’s attorney general and the Canadian company Enbridge, which owns and operates the Line 5 pipeline that transports oil and natural gas liquids from Wisconsin through Michigan to Canada.”
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Detroit 10, 2024; The Detroit News
State launches public health study in Wyandotte due to site pollution
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Detroit 11, 2024; Click on Detroit
New plan put in place to stop Wyandotte groundwater contamination
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December 12, 2024; WXYZ Detroit
Michigan environmental groups push for public study into Wyandotte BASF site pollution
“If I were living immediately downstream of BASF Wyandotte, eating fish out of that river, letting my kids play in it, I would be extremely concerned,” said Carrie La Seur with the Michigan environmental group For the Love of Water.”
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December 18, 2024; MLive
Michigan Senate moves pollution cleanup reforms in overnight session
“The Michigan Senate passed a series of pollution cleanup reforms last week during a late Thursday session that extended well past midnight.
In the early hours on Friday, Dec. 13, Democrats passed five bills that would, together, overhaul Michigan’s environmental remediation program to prioritize physical removal over allowing pollution to remain in the ground but limiting human contact.”
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December 19, 2024; Planet Detroit
Can Dems pass pollution cleanup bills before it’s too late?
“The legislation, Senate bills 605, 606, 607, 609 and 611, would require greater transparency around polluted sites, update cleanup criteria as new risks are discovered, extend the statute of limitations for individuals and the state to sue polluters over impacts from contaminants like PFAS and potentially increase the amount of contaminated material that gets cleaned up.”
2023
Our top 3 highlights:
January 2023
January 8, 2023; MLive
Rollback of Trump-era water rules unlikely to alter Michigan regulations
“Recent rollbacks of Trump-era federal water laws are unlikely to change much about how Michigan’s waterways are regulated, though experts say the move will enhance water protections around the Great Lakes and across the rest of the country.
Michigan is among just a few states authorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to run its own wetlands regulatory program to maintain compliance with the federal Clean Water Act under state laws. The updated federal rule defines which “waters of the United States” are protected.”
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January 13, 2023; UpNorthLive
BATA partners with advertising agency to provide free ads to nonprofits
“It always brings a smile to my face when you see something like that, especially not only because we’re getting a good message out, but also when you have a canvas as large as a bus that you can utilize to get your message out, it just makes it even more stand out you know,” said Eric Linguar director of communications and development for BATA.”
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January 15, 2023, BBC
Why Michigan is trying to shut down Canada’s Enbridge Line 5 pipeline
“But two years later, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Mr Snyder’s Democratic successor and a long-time opponent of Line 5, ordered the company to cease operations in the Straits, effectively shutting Line 5 down. She called it an “unreasonable risk” to the Great Lakes, one of the largest sources of fresh water in the world and an economic engine for the region.
Now, there is no end in sight for the ongoing battle over the fate of the project, the pipeline and the need to protect the Great Lakes.”
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January 17, 2023; Bridge Michigan
Opinion | Keep Michigan water affordable and in public hands
“In 2023, Michigan needs an inspiring vision, championed from the highest places inside our government and out. In her State of the State message set for Jan. 25, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has a chance to show the way by articulating bold proposals for Michigan’s water. I urge her to declare 2023 the Year of Keeping Water Public and Protected for All in Michigan.”
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January 21, 2023; Northern Express
Finding Power in All the Right Places
“While the exact numbers vary by study, an increasingly smaller percentage of the world’s population holds an increasingly larger percentage of global wealth. Interwoven with this reality are issues of race, privilege, access, consumption, and power. Wealth also determines who controls and most deeply impacts Earth’s resources, shifting their use from public good to private gain and bringing us to this critical point, where having clean air, land and water, biodiversity, and a stable climate is at risk.”
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January 24, 2023; Illinois State University—By University staff
World Water Day: Tribal sovereignty talk, March 21
“To mark World Water Day, Zach Welcker will deliver the lecture, “Tribal Sovereignty and Water: The Long View on Water Use and Management” at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 in the Circus Room at the Bone Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Welcker is the legal director of For Love of Water (FLOW), a nonprofit organization with the mission to ensure the waters of the Great Lakes Basin are healthy, public, and protected. Welker is FLOW’s first full-time legal director, who is responsible for building on FLOW’s legal power, policy acumen, and partnerships among tribes, conversation groups, frontline communities, justice organizations, and scientists. “
February 2023
February 21, 2023; TVO Today
What Will Be the Fate of Line 5?
“An ongoing standoff between the U.S. State of Michigan and Canada over Enbridge’s Line 5 will likely be on the agenda for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting with President Joe Biden in March. Experts in Michigan, Calgary, Quebec, and Ontario discuss developments related to ageing pipeline, what the two leaders should address, the environmental transition underway in Canada and abroad, the safety of the Great Lakes, the ripple effects disruptions to Line 5 could have, all against a backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impacts on global energy supply and markets.”
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February 22, 2023; TV 9&10
Attorney General’s Case Against Enbridge Could Move to State Court
“The State’s case against Enbridge over Line 5 is one step closer to moving back down from federal to state court. On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan granted Attorney General Dana Nessel’s request for an appeal. She believes the district court made legal errors when it denied her request to move the case back to state level.”
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February 23,2023; UpNorth Live
Line 5 hearings could soon return to state courts
“The motion argued that the case should have never been brought to federal court to begin with, arguing a district court had made clear legal errors and abused its discretion. Nessel’s petition was granted earlier this week, which allows her to ask the Federal Court of Appeals to step in and possibly bring the case back to the state level. Staff with For the Love of Water(FLOW) said moving the case back to state court is the right decision.”
March 2023
March 4, 2023; Northern Express
Northern Express Fascinating People of 2023
JoAnne Cook: The Cultural Champion
Growing up in the 1960s in Peshawbestown, JoAnne Cook faced a lot of challenges…and has seen a lot of changes. Today, as the mother of three adult sons, much of her life is focused on being an active member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB). ‘I do cultural activities,’ Cook explains. ‘I’m learning to make quill boxes and learning the language, along with one of my sons.’ And when she’s not working on her quill boxes, you might catch her at a tribal event performing as a jingle dress dancer or teaching a class on Anishinaabe history.”
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March 14, 2023; TV9&10 News
For Love of Water in Traverse City Reacts to EPA’s Proposed Limit on PFAS
“Michigan has become a leader in cleaning PFAS contamination in our lakes since community systems in the state get their drinking water from both surface and ground water sources where these chemicals can be found.
FLOW says that ensuring the water utilities are up to the standard that is protective of human health is a priority.”
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March 23, 2023, Sierra Magazine
A Battle for the Future of the Great Lakes
“The pipelines cross more than 200 waterways. There have been at least 34 known documented spills along Line 5’s pathway. It’s only providing 5 to 10 percent of the oil for Michigan’s needs. That can easily be picked up with other pipelines. A society that treasures its most precious resource—water—would not allow this to continue. That’s what this battle is about: This is a battle for the future of the Great Lakes.”
October 2023
October 11, 2023; Michigan Advance
Column: Decarbonizing Michigan’s economy will also improve water quality
“Burning natural gas is said to be “cleaner” than coal, but like coal releases nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter – all of which inevitably impact Michigan’s surface waters.”
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October 18, 2023; Mackinaw Town Crier
“Nonprofit environmental groups For Love of Water (FLOW) and Oil & Water Don’t Mix (OWDM) are hosting a panel of experts for an online question and answer session at noon Wednesday, November 1, 2023”
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October 21, 2023; Iosco County News Herald
Meeting on Line 5 concerns scheduled
“This Zoom meeting is being created by Oil & Water Don’t Mix and FLOW (For Love of Water). The meeting will be held at the East Tawas Community Center in an upstairs room. There is no charge to attend.”
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October 25, 2023; MLive
Michigan bills would toughen pollution laws, enhance cleanups
“On Wednesday, Wynn-Stelt stood with Michigan Democrats at the capitol as they announced a suite of bills in the House and Senate that would overhaul the state’s environmental remediation program and prioritize physical cleanup and removal over allowing pollution to remain in the ground.”
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October 27, 2023; The Livingston Post
Polluter pay bills introduced in both chambers
“Wynn-Stelt, who spoke at a press conference where Democratic legislators announced a bicameral package of “polluter pay” bills, said her community’s case of PFAS contamination, which impacted 25 square miles, spurred her to learn more about Michigan’s environmental regulations and resulted in “reluctant, begrudging activism.””
November 2023
November 1, 2023; League of Women Voters of Wisconsin
Enbridge Line 5: What to Know in 2023
“Enbridge is seeking state and federal permits to reroute and expand a portion of Line 5, moving it from the Reservation lands of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians to just outside of Reservation borders but entirely within the Bad River Watershed, threatening more natural resources than the existing line by moving the risk upstream.”
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November 12, 2023; Traverse City Record Eagle
Making Polluters Pay: How to fix state law, policy to protect groundwater
OPINION from Executive Director Liz Kirkwood
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November 12, 2023; Cleburne Times Review
Making Polluters Pay: How to fix state law, policy to protect groundwater
OPINION from Executive Director Liz Kirkwood
December 2023
December 1, 2023; FOX2 Detroit
Line 5 tunnel project under Straits of Mackinac approved by Michigan Public Service Commission
“FLOW, or For Love of Water, called the commission’s decision “disgraceful” and said it “betrays” its responsibility to the public. The Straits are no safer while an unprecedented tunnel perpetuates the threat of an explosion spilling oil and gas into these ecologically fragile and economically vital waters,” they said in a statement.”
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December 1, 2023; Michigan Advance
Michigan Public Service Commission votes to advance permitting for Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel project
“According to For Love of Water (FLOW), a nonprofit dedicated to protecting water health in the Great Lakes Basin, the pipeline was built in 1953 and was designed to last 50 years. Since 1968 Line 5 has failed at least 33 times, spilling at least 1.13 million gallons of oil on land and in wetlands. “
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December 1, 2023; MLive
Enbridge Line 5 tunnel plan approved by Michigan utility regulators
“The Michigan Public Service Commission voted Dec. 1 to grant a permit for Enbridge to build an underground tunnel for an oil and gas pipeline that currently sits on bottomlands in the Straits of Mackinac. The regulatory agency found there is both a public need for the energy products Line 5 carries and a need to replace the underwater section to protect Great Lakes waters.”
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December 1, 2023; The Toledo Blade
Permit to build Line 5 tunnel gets approved by Michigan Public Service Commission
“The PBF refinery in East Toledo has been a major supporter of the project. They have stated on numerous occasions in the past that the old refinery there, which supports dozens of local union jobs, might close if Line 5 is shut down permanently, as Ms. Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel have been trying to do through court proceedings.”
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December 2, 2023; The Northern Express
Michigan needs polluter pay laws
“Corporate polluters shouldn’t get a free pass to contaminate our air, land, and water, and taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill when they do. Right now, our state legislature is considering bills—known as Polluter Pay bills—that would address this issue.”
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December 4, 2023; UpNorthLive
A 20th Century project in the 21st Century’: Environmental groups react to Line 5 update
“Incredibly disappointing. It contradicts the efforts of our governor and our attorney general, and also the federal judge in Wisconsin who have all determined that Enbridge is a direct immediate threat to the Great Lakes,” said Christy McGillivray, the legislative director of the Michigan chapter of Sierra Club.”
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December 5, 2023; Circle of Blue
Will Energy From Manure Help or Harm Water Quality in Michigan?
“Prompted by changes in state regulations, and federal and state taxpayer incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Michigan in the last two years has been the largest center of manure biodigester development outside California, according to state and federal figures. At a cost of $15 million to $20 million apiece, according to industry data, the new energy sector is attracting big players in Michigan. “
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December 13, 2023; Great Lakes Now
The Great Lakes Compact at 15: Region celebrates, veteran policy experts caution against complacency
“The water landscape has shifted since 2008 – the impacts of climate change are clearer, not to be dealt with in a far off future. Drought and overuse of water in the West have left those regions examining their options. The compact does allow for diversions under certain circumstances and those are still a concern. And the notion that water is a commodity to be bought and sold still looms.”
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December 19, 2023; Bridge Michigan
Opinion | We can’t fix Lake Erie until we force farmers to stop polluting
“If you want to know if the farmer next to you is taking any measures to keep field applied manure out of your local river and she doesn’t want to tell you, your only recourse is to go pound sand, pray, and of course, keep paying your taxes. Those fancy artificial wetlands don’t build themselves, and they only work until they’re choked with phosphorus.”
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December 28, 2023; Northern Express
“We quite literally rely on groundwater to live,” says Liz Kirkwood, executive director of For Love of Water (FLOW). “But unlike Michigan’s lakes, rivers, and streams that we can see, Michiganders can’t see groundwater, so it’s often forgotten.”
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