Michigan Environmental Council and its fellow Line 5 legal intervenors plan to appeal the decision of a Michigan Public Service Commission Administrative Law Judge regarding the Commission’s review of Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel proposal.

Judge Dennis Mack ruled Tuesday that the Commission must consider environmental impacts when deciding to permit a tunnel that could surround the Line 5 oil pipeline through the Great Lakes for as long as a century. But Mack also ruled that the Commission cannot consider impacts in the context of climate change or the need for the fossil fuels Line 5 transports.

The intervenors' appeal will go before the Commission.

Lana Pollack did not know Joan Wolfe too personally. They would occasionally cross paths when Pollack was a three-term Michigan Senator and Wolfe, as ever, was working to make Michigan’s environment better.

The last time they met was 2012 at a service honoring the late Helen Milliken, environmentalist, women’s rights activist, former First Lady of Michigan.

Wolfe carried layers of loss that day, said Pollack, former president and CEO of Michigan Environmental Council. She had just lost her friend, recently lost her husband and was losing her eyesight. Yet, the 83-year-old still carried a force and spirit with her that Pollack felt during all her meetings over the decades.

It was emblematic of Wolfe’s personal and professional life, one that forever changed state and national environmental law and shaped and invigorated Michigan’s environmental movement.

Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 tunnel proposal is in no way a done deal, and a hearing Friday before the Michigan Public Service Commission is just one example of the continued review process the corporation must undergo, several environmental groups said today.

While Enbridge Energy may have received permits from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE) for the Line 5 tunnel, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Before construction can begin, Enbridge still needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Michigan Public Service Commission and multiple local municipalities.

On Friday, Jan. 29, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy approved permits for Canadian company Enbridge to build a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac that could house a new Line 5 -- if the pipeline, wrapped up in court cases, is approved.

“One of EGLE’s roles is to protect Michigan’s environment -- it’s in its name,” said Sean Hammond, policy director for Michigan Environmental Council. “Friday’s decision to allow Enbridge, a company known for its oil spills, to build a Line 5 tunnel through our Great Lakes is a step toward environmental peril. The insufficient geotechnical data provided in the application alone should not allow this permit approval.”

In a move that will protect the health of Michigan’s water, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed an agreement Thursday that will keep an invasive, destructive species out of our water.

Michigan will provide $8 million in appropriated funds to Illinois, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will use to engineer and design fortifications of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois. Once complete, the site will provide a strong series of blockades to keep Asian carp from entering Michigan waterways.

“In the darkness of despair we saw a vision, / We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished.” ~ Liam Mac Uistin, “We Saw A Vision”

Sean McBrearty recited these opening lines hours after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took bold, decisive action to shut down the Line 5 oil pipeline that cuts through our Great Lakes.

Line 5 will be shut down. That was the move Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made Friday against the oil pipeline that cuts through the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes.

Gov. Whitmer sent a notice of violation, termination and revocation of the 1953 easement that made Line 5’s existence possible to Enbridge, its owner. She then submitted a court filing to force the termination.

Seven pro-environment Michigander leaders were appointed or reappointed across three government groups by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Thursday. Michigan Environmental Council gave a thumbs-up to each.

The advocates, educators and researchers will serve either on the Environmental Rules Review Commission, the Environmental Rules Review Commission or the Great Lakes Protection Fund.

On Thursday, a coalition of eight Great Lakes region organizations filed a motion in support of the area’s people, water and wildlife. 

Michigan Environmental Council, Environmental Law & Policy Center and other partners seek to legally intervene in the 2020 Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation general permit contested by Michigan Farm Bureau and livestock commodity groups.

Don a coat and walk to the Pine River’s edge in Gratiot County during Michigan’s winter months and you’d think the Pine River “was the most wonderful river in the world,” said Gary Rayburn.

Gary Rayburn is not fooled, though. The high E. coli levels are always there. And when the weather warms, the algae rise from the depths, a thick, neon green sign of nutrient overload from manure runoff.