Tag Archive for Enbridge Pipeline 5

Gretchenomics: Yoopers Digging Their Next Meal out of the Dirt, in the Cold, and in the Dark

Alas! The DetNews highlights just how reprehensible the Bolshevist union of an offspring of the insurance lobby (Whitmer), and radical lesbian Nessel ✡️, has unfolded for Michiganians.

But new Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised on the campaign trail to shut down Line 5, and she’s allowing that ill-considered vow to get in the way of sound policy.

Whitmer teamed with Attorney General Dana Nessel to block the work by declaring the tunnel unconstitutional.

Nessel’s opinion, issued last week, is that the law approving the deal violates the state constitution because its title doesn’t reflect what’s actually in the bill. That semantical objection seems an iffy legal stance, considering that so many laws in Michigan bear lofty titles that have little connection to their contents.

*Think* the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: it did the exact opposite.

But it was enough for Whitmer, who seized the ruling to order preparations for the tunnel work to cease.

This will surely end up in court. The Republican-controlled Legislature won’t stand by while the new Democratic administration usurps its lawmaking authority, nor should it.

Read the entire opinion here

SML Shirkey, Speaker Chatfield, I do believe you have your marching orders.

Ps. when it comes to Line 5 transporting daily 540,000 barrels of light crude oil and synthetic petroleum, 65% of the propane used in the Upper Peninsula, and 55% used statewide, methinks, someone takes the matter at hand a wee too nonchalantly.

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Bill Schuette – Jack Of All Trades

Michigan's Attorney General joins the pipeline closure drum corps.

You can say one thing about Attorney General Bill Schuette, he has had a lot of different jobs.

The latest is apparently environmental expert and mechanical engineer.  Acting like those cats in the disaster movies who always seem to have the correct and dire warnings that “something really bad is about to happen,” Schuette has now called for the end to line five.  From the Detroit News:

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on Thursday called for the development of a “specific and definite timetable” to close Enbridge Energy Inc.’s Line 5 dual pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac.

Schuette’s comments came as his office, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Natural Resources and Agency for Energy released a long-awaited Line 5 alternatives assessment conducted by an independent contractor.

The 337-page report states the 64-year-old Line 5 could operate indefinitely, but Schuette said he “strongly” disagreed. One viable alternative, he said, would be to construct a tunnel under the straits that could serve a similar function but allow for continuous visual inspection while creating infrastructure and construction jobs.

I suppose we could add “Tunnel Builder” to the resume as well?

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Who’s Missing?

Governor Snyder's New Pipeline Safety Advisory Board: Long on Bureaucrats & Special Interests, Short on Technical Talent

Ruptured Section of Enbridge Pipeline 6B Recovered from Calhoun County, MI. NTSB Image

Ruptured Section of Enbridge Pipeline 6B Recovered from Calhoun County, MI. NTSB Image

Governor Snyder filed Executive Order 2015-12 with the Secretary of State yesterday to create a Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board under the aegis of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. A response to the disastrous 2010 Enbridge Pipeline 6B rupture in Calhoun County and the agitation against Enbridge Pipeline 5, which transects the Straits of Mackinac.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Schuette completed a binding legal agreement with Enbridge to prevent Enbridge Pipeline 5 from being used to transport ‘heavy crude oil’ under the Straits of Mackinac. This agreement formally implements the first recommendation of the Michigan DEQ Petroleum Pipeline Task Force Report released in July to ban heavy crude oil in Line 5. Sounds good, but Enbridge Pipeline 5 does not now have the pumping horsepower for heavy crude transmission, and the weight of the crude has very little to do with pipeline integrity. Corrosive constituents in the crude, biofouling, and a host of other technical issues are far more important determinants of pipeline integrity. This agreement has great optics, but little consequence.

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