On the 11/06/2020 the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that legislators did not violate the state constitution by allowing construction of an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, clearing the way for the project to proceed unless another court intervenes.
A three-judge panel affirmed a ruling last November by the Michigan Court of Claims, which upheld a law authorizing a deal between former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian pipeline company Enbridge.
They had negotiated a plan to drill the tunnel through bedrock beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lakes Michigan and Huron and divides Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. It would house a pipeline that would replace a four-mile-long (six-kilometer-long) underwater segment of Enbridge’s Line 5, which carries crude oil and natural gas liquids used in propane between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario. Lawmakers approved the agreement during a lame-duck session in December 2018 over objections that the measure was drafted sloppily and rushed to enactment before Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, who criticized the deal, took over for Snyder the following month. Attorney General Dana Nessel, also a Democrat, issued an opinion in March 2019 that the authorizing bill was unconstitutional because its provisions far exceeded what its title specified. Enbridge requested a ruling from the Court of Claims, where Judge Michael Kelly found that lawmakers had adequately followed the constitutional requirement to express a bill’s “general purpose or object” in its title. The ruling was a victory for Enbridge, which says it plans to finish the tunnel by 2024.
Nessel is pursuing a separate lawsuit that seeks to shut down Line 5 — long a goal of environmentalists who say a rupture could devastate waters and shorelines in a sensitive area home to endangered species and prized by tourists. The 67-year-old underwater segment consists of two pipes that carry a combined 23 million gallons (87 million liters) daily. Enbridge says the lines are inspected regularly and are in good condition. But protective outer coating has worn away in some spots and erosion has required the installation of steel braces. A barge and tugboat anchor struck the pipes in 2018. For further information click us/126 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.greatlakesnow.org/. 24/20.
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