We’ve been writing about Line 5, Enbridge’s 67-year-old twin pipelines under the straights of Mackinac for 5 years now: June 23, 2015 — Enbridge Line 5 pipeline beneath Straits of Mackinac – too old, unsafe, and a threat to the Great Lakes September 10, 2015 — As protesters call for Straits of Mackinac oil pipeline to be shut down, Enbridge […]

If you worried that poor, maligned Enbridge Energy was alone in its fight against the monstrous power of Michigan citizens who are desperate to save our Great Lakes from an unimaginable environmental catastrophe, you may now rest easy. A new corporate front group, an “AstroTurf” group as they are frequently called, has come to their aid, posing as, in their […]

The following guest post was provided by Clean Water Action in Michigan, our state’s top environmental watchdog and advocate for clean water. If you’re not familiar with State Rep. Lee Chatfield, I urge you to read the piece I wrote about him last week titled “Northern Michigan Republican Lee Chatfield can’t control his guns or his campaign“. If you’re unfamiliar […]

Last week, 550 gallons of coolant containing toxic organic solvents (alkyl derivatives of benzene, specifically) were released into Lake Michigan from an electrical transmission cable running under the Straits of Mackinac. It happened because a ship went through the Straits dragging its anchor. (UPDATE: It appears that it was a tugboat owned by VanEnkevort Tug & Barge.) Enbridge Energy clearly […]

Native Americans protest Enbridge’s Line 5 in shadow of the Mackinac Bridge Under the Straits of Mackinac, just west of our iconic Mackinac Bridge, there is a set of two pipelines known as Line 5 which are owned by the Enbridge oil company. They were built in 1953, making them 64 years old this year, and before the Great Lakes […]

Lon Johnson, the former Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, has made shutting down Enbridge Oil’s notorious Line 5 oil pipeline the center of his primary bid for Michigan’s 1st Congressional District seat. The controversial pipeline runs under the Straits of Mackinac and the horror of it rupturing is nearly too horrible to contemplate. Imagine that it fails in the […]

A bill to shield oil and gas companies from having information about details of their pipelines and other infrastructure from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests was introduced as House Bill 4540 last May. It sat in the House Committee on Oversight and Ethics without action until last December. At that point, it was clear that supporters on the the […]

The following guest post was written by Denny Green of Clean Water Action – Michigan. Enjoy. Anytime you hear that something or someone’s days are numbered, you get the idea that it’s a matter of grave significance — certainly something to be regarded with the utmost concern and action. Well, it’s been more than 140 days since Michigan Attorney General […]

This past weekend, protesters from around the state gathered at the Mackinac Bridge to call for the shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. The pipeline (actually TWO pipelines) are 62 years old and were built in a time when regulations were far more lax than they are now. Had the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act been in place when the […]

Round Island Lighthouse in the Straits of Mackinac, photo by Anne C. Savage The aspiring but unannounced 2018 gubernatorial candidate Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette appointed a Task Force to address the increasing public concern about Line 5, Enbridge’s pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac. That was last year. Since then new voices and new media outlets have […]

The following essay is a guest post by Denny Green of Clean Water Action – Michigan. Enjoy. Stick that in your pipeline and smoke it! Anybody who’s ever visited Michigan’s Great Lakes has been taken aback by their inspiring splendor and breath-taking beauty, laid out for all to see. What you don’t see, however, are Enbridge’s two aging pipelines, known […]