Photo: Nancy May – work available at numerous shops on Mackinac Island
FLOW reminds state leaders they have the power to defend the Great Lakes from Enbridge.
Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette have the legal authority to protect the Great Lakes from the major risk posed by the antiquated and poorly maintained Line 5 pipelines at the Straits of Mackinac, FLOW reminded them in a letter Thursday.
Responding to the latest comment by a state government official questioning the state’s authority to shut down the pipelines, FLOW wrote that the public trust doctrine and state statutes make that authority clear. And the same state officials have acknowledged that authority in the past.
“In the 1953 Easement authorizing the pipelines, Enbridge (then the Lakehead Pipe Line Company) and the State of Michigan acknowledged the state’s jurisdiction and property power and police power control over the Straits of Mackinac, because of the Great Lakes,” FLOW wrote. “It is undisputed that there can be no pipelines in the Straits or elsewhere in or under the Great Lakes or its connecting waters without a lease, occupancy agreement, or other written consent and a permit under the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act from the State of Michigan.”
Despite such legal footing, DEQ Director Heidi Grether told reporters earlier this month, “People keep saying shut them down, shut them down; part of the question is, under what authority?”
But the state has already recognized its authority by requiring Enbridge at least since 2001 to obtain state permits for modifications of pipeline supports and a task force appointed by the governor concluded the state has jurisdiction. The state therefore has legal control of the use of the lakebed for a pipeline crossing, FLOW said.
“Years into state task force and advisory board review, state officials are trying to fall back on their alleged powerlessness to protect the Straits,” said Liz Kirkwood, FLOW’s executive director. “It’s merely an attempt to pass the buck. By entering into an agreement with Enbridge negotiated behind closed doors last November, the Governor was acknowledging that the state has a regulatory role in pipeline location.”
“The state’s authority is obvious and so is the correct course of action. The state must move to revoke the easement and shut the pipelines down before they rupture and do immense damage to the Great Lakes and Michigan’s economy.”
It must be shut down before it is too late.
Thank you very much. Please let me know how I may assist as a council member of Loving Waters, living here just outside Chicago..