FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2019
Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director Email: Liz@FLOWforWater.org
Office: (231) 944-1568 Cell: (570) 872-4956
Jim Olson, President, Cell: 231-499-8831 Email: olson@envlaw.com
FLOW (For Love of Water), Traverse City, MI Web: www.FLOWforWater.org
FLOW Statement on Negotiations Between Gov. Whitmer and Enbridge on Line 5 Tunnel, Pipeline
Traverse City, Mich. – FLOW (For Love of Water) issued the following statement on the disclosure that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Enbridge Energy will discuss expediting construction of an oil tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac while the company’s troubled Line 5 pipelines continue operation in the Straits:
“We are concerned about this development. Every day that the Line 5 pipelines continue to operate is a risk to our precious Great Lakes,” said FLOW executive director Liz Kirkwood. “State government’s efforts should first and foremost be devoted to shutting the pipeline down, not negotiating its continued operation while a tunnel is explored and possibly built.
“Now that the Governor has chosen to engage in this process, we hope and trust it will be a transparent one. It is unfortunate that her predecessor engaged in secret talks on agreements with Enbridge, and the lame-duck Legislature was so eager to benefit Enbridge that it passed a sloppy statute that the Attorney General ruled unconstitutional. We are confident this Governor will operate differently,” Kirkwood said.
“We are also hopeful that the Governor will restore and apply the rule of law to Enbridge’s operations in the Straits. Any easement or lease of Great Lakes bottomlands and any private control for a 99-year tunnel by a private company like Enbridge for a private operation must be authorized under the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (GLSLA),” said Jim Olson, President of FLOW.
“The GLSLA ensures a public review, analysis, participation, and a determination under standards that protect the public trust in the waters of the Great Lakes and the soils beneath them from privatization and impairment. It also ensures a thorough evaluation of feasible and prudent alternatives, including ones that do not involve use or control of the Great Lakes. No agreement between the executive branch and a private company can override this fundamental law,” Olson said.
FLOW Thank You So Much !! For Your Professional Standards That We All Are Waiting To See become reality ; In keeping Our Environment Safe For Generations To Come and Blocking any Manmade Money deals To Any Officials in Collaborating Corruption!!
Borneo! Oil spill ! Underwater Pipeline ! When will Pipeline 5 spill oil into our Lake Michigan ?? Tell governor Whitmer to SHUT IT DOWN !
We are very concerned that Governor Whitmer seems to be negotiating the Tunnel with Enbridge. This operation has been allowed to go dangerously past safe and legal limits. This product does not benefit MI residents, and the impending danger contributes to a state of anxiety for a huge number of us. This isn’t the Governor I supported. This isn’t the MI I want to live in.
Enbridge Canada’s energy corporation is & has been in violation of the Native American’s party to the land easements throughout 18 counties in MI from Detroit to North of the Straits of Michilimackinac (Mackinac) runs under the Mackinac Bridge in the middle of Lake Huron & Lake Michigan re-connecting on land in Mackinac County. The U.S federal agencies & the State of MI government’s, their new administrations don’t even follow the federal laws detailed in the original easement agreements. The local EPA, Forestry Division’s, the State Governor has a trust responsibility to honor treaty’s made with the various MI Indians. Not one MI Indian has been contacted since the installation of the twin pipelines. The Native American’s living within their ceded area’s (Counties) are party to the energy resources pumping through to Canada & Russia. EQUAL Governing was to be achieved, as the refinery in Detroit, the Native American’s were to have equal control to hire to train & to maintain the oil/gas pipelines equally as Canad’s energy corporation. MI would negotiating power by honoring the Treaty’s the oil/gas easements singed in the 1950’s including the actual MI Indians of the various Band’s party to equal governing. Enbridge owes the Native American race many many moons of revenue sharing that they have illegally excluded from paying. The twin lines cannot be shut down but Canada & Russia’s energy corporation should be court ordered to rebuild new lines with up to date materials & installing the spacers according to laws. Once their twin lines are rebuilt & in operation to provide gas/oil to Canada/Russia they should be court ordered to cover all costs to install their new lines, and cover all costs removing their old lines from our Great Lakes. Governor Whitmer you should review the original easement agreement to fully understand today Canada, Russia & the U.S, every agency under the sun or waterways today are in violation of the Native American’s, treaty’s Supreme Laws of the Lands. No one ever looks back in history to know how to honor Supreme Laws…Nope they grab for straws & deal with the enemy.