FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
July 13, 2022
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
New Report: Strait to the Surface: How the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority Puts Canadian Oil Interests Above All Else
MICHIGAN –– A new report, compiled by Progress Michigan, dives into the history of the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority and its flawed decision making on the Line 5 tunnel project.
“Line 5 is often in the news and on the airwaves, and most of the time, Michiganders are only getting Enbridge’s side of the story,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “The public and our lawmakers must understand how the cards have always been stacked in Enbridge’s favor, thanks to a years-long pressure campaign from the powerful oil and gas lobby.”
The full report, titled Strait to the Surface: How the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority Puts Canadian Oil Interests Above All Else, is available here. Highlights include:
- Gov. Rick Snyder created the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority during the 2018 Lame Duck to hamstring the next administration and bolster his pro-corporate, anti-environment track record.
- The numerous conflicts of interest that the Snyder administration had with lobbyists and corporations as they worked towards one shared goal: helping a fossil fuel giant, Enbridge, continue operating Line 5 despite safety concerns.
- The state of Michigan has attempted to give Enbridge the ability to build an oil tunnel with few strings attached because of the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority and how it was created.
The report comes on the heels of the release of Progress Michigan’s latest edition of Lake Effect, a polling newsletter, which shows that a majority of Michigan voters support elected officials who hold corporate polluters like Enbridge accountable for harming the Great Lakes.
“It’s clear that we don’t need Line 5—even Enbridge’s own experts found that we can decommission the aging pipeline and keep gas prices in check,” Scott continued. “As the Michigan Public Service Commission just required Enbridge to turn over more information about the safety and engineering concerns with the Line 5 tunnel, this report will serve as a good reminder that this oil tunnel should never have been considered a viable option to begin with. And if the legislature wants to act, they should repeal the law they made that established the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority and this recipe for disaster.”
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