Canadian Profits, Michigan Risk

Canadian Profits, Michigan Risk

This white paper documents that the vast North American oil pipeline network has more than sufficient capacity to ensure that Michigan and Midwest refineries could operate with no economic disruption without Line 5. It also identifies viable solutions that should be implemented to secure necessary propane to Upper Peninsula residents, as well as to transport northern Lower Peninsula oil to southeastern markets.

Schuette Should Turn Tough Talk on Line 5 Into Real Action

Schuette Should Turn Tough Talk on Line 5 Into Real Action

Attorney General Bill Schuette was quoted again this week with his strongest language yet about decommissioning Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac. Disagreeing with an assertion that the pipeline could last “indefinitely”, Schuette called for a “comprehensive plan … to drive the timeline for the (pipeline’s) closure”. Yet in the same statement he suggested the pipeline could be replaced with a tunnel under the Straits, a risky and expensive alternative that ignores the long-term solution of getting oil to Michigan from other existing pipelines and, ultimately, reducing our demand for oil and transitioning our economy to run on cleaner fuel sources.

Play Ball, Great Lakes Style

Play Ball, Great Lakes Style

The 2016 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and my beloved Chicago Cubs is the first “All Great Lakes World Series” in … 71 years. Here’s a timeline of key events in Great Lakes environmental history, with the corresponding play-by-play of what was happening in baseball at the time.

Oil & Water Don’t Mix: May 2015

Oil & Water Don’t Mix: May 2015

Here’s a recap of some of the latest developments in Groundwork’s efforts, as part of the Oil and Water Don’t Mix coalition, to raise awareness of the threats posed by the pipelines in the Mackinac Straits.