A panel will oversee the construction of an oil pipeline between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan in the Straits of Mackinac, as Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill appointing three members to the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority. Opponents of the legislation vowed, however, that the battle isn’t over and could move to the courts.
The bill was pushed through the legislature because Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer, who is a critic of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 pipeline, will take office after the current governor leaves office at the end of the month.
Crude oil and natural gas liquids are passed through Line 5 between Superior, Wisconsin, through northern Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. The 645-mile pipeline has been in operation since 1953. Opponents are trying to decommission a four-mile stretch of it laying on the lake floor.
Photo courtesy of James Marvin Phelps
