Straits of Mackinac

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI (MPRN)--   A new report says Enbridge Energy may have misrepresented its ability to pay for a Line 5 oil spill. 

While working with the Snyder Administration Enbridge agreed to cover up to $1.8 billion in the event of a Line 5 oil spill. 

Now a study, commissioned by the Attorney General’s office, which is involved in two lawsuits with Enbridge, finds the company may not be able to cover those costs. 

Kelly Rossman-McKinney is a spokesperson for the AG’s office.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI (AP)--   A Michigan judge has handed a victory to a company seeking to build a tunnel that would house a Great Lakes oil pipeline. 

Judge Michael Kelly of the Michigan Court of Claims ruled Thursday that the state Legislature did not violate the Michigan Constitution last year by approving a deal between former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and Enbridge Inc.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI (AP)--   Enbridge says it has begun installing steel supports on its Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, where erosion has created a gap between the line and the lake bottom. 

The Canadian company based in Calgary, Alberta, said Tuesday it had received a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to install 54 supports along the Line 5 pipe in the waterway connecting Lakes Huron and Michigan.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI (AP)--   Democratic presidential hopeful Jay Inslee is wading into a Great Lakes regional controversy by coming out against a proposed oil pipeline tunnel. 

The Washington state governor opposes a plan favored by Enbridge Inc. to route the company's Line 5 pipeline through a tunnel that would be built beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the channel linking Lakes Huron and Michigan.

The tunnel segment would replace dual pipes that have run across the straits bottomlands for 66 years.

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wants a court to shut down an oil and natural gas liquids pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac. Nessel says the line is a potential hazard to the Great Lakes.

There had been talks between Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Enbridge about a plan designed by the previous administration. That plan would build a new section of Line 5 and put it in a multi-use tunnel under the bedrock of the Straits.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI (AP)--   Enbridge says it's moving ahead with collecting rock and soil samples in the Straits of Mackinac while preparing for a court battle with Michigan's governor over a planned oil pipeline tunnel there. 

The Canadian company received a permit in January to do preliminary sampling in the channel linking Lakes Huron and Michigan. That was before Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered state agencies to stop implementing an agreement between Enbridge and former Governor Rick Snyder to build the tunnel.

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Governor Gretchen Whitmer has plans to meet with Enbridge Energy officials this week to try to reach an understanding on the future of Line 5—the oil and gas line that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac. 

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI (MPRN)--   Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says she’s ready to go to court to force Enbridge to shut down a pipeline that moves oil and gas on a route that runs through the Great Lakes. That’s if the energy company and the state don’t reach a deal by the end of June.

Enbidge’s Line 5 runs through the Straits of Mackinac. The waterway connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and runs beneath the Mackinac Bridge.  The bridge is a landmark visible from Mackinac Island, and that’s where the attorney general made her plans known at a business conference.

ST. IGNACE, MI (AP)--   The U.S. Coast Guard is looking for volunteers to help assess environmental and navigation hazards in the Straits of Mackinac, the channel that links Lakes Huron and Michigan.

The Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment workshop is scheduled for July 24-25 in St. Ignace.

It will bring together waterway users, stakeholders, and government agencies to identify safety risks and consider measures that can be taken to reduce them.

LANSING, MI (AP)--   Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is requiring large vessel operators to verify they're not dragging their anchors on the bottomlands when passing through the Straits of Mackinac. 

Whitmer instructed the state Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday to file an emergency rule imposing the requirement for ships in the waterway linking Lakes Huron and Michigan.

It's similar to an order that former Gov. Rick Snyder issued last year after a tugboat anchor ruptured two electric cables and dented twin oil pipelines stretched across the lakebed.