May 2019, Vol. 246, No. 5
Projects
Michigan Governor Halts Great Lakes Oil Pipeline Tunnel
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered state departments and agencies to take no further action on legislation enacted in late 2018 authorizing construction of an oil pipeline tunnel beneath lakes Huron and Michigan.
Whitmer made the move after Attorney General Dana Nessel issued an opinion stating the title of the bill approved by lawmakers did not accurately describe its contents as required by the Michigan Constitution.
Whitmer and Nessel are both Democrats who were elected last year and had opposed a deal to build the Straits of Mackinac tunnel reached by former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian pipeline company Enbridge.
This move came after legislation to establish a panel that would oversee the project was ruled legal by a Court of Claims judge.
After taking office in January, Whitmer asked Nessel to examine the law’s constitutionality.
The tunnel, if eventually approved, would house a more than 4-mile section of Enbridge’s Line 5, which carries oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisc., and Sarnia, Ont. P&GJ
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