Mackinac Island — Michigan’s Attorney General Dana
Nessel, U.S. Senator Gary Peters and several congressional members thanked the
Great Lakes Business Network for taking a leading position to decommission the
Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. During the Mackinac Island
reception, elected officials also offered strong support for the Networks
positions on other critical Great Lakes policy issues, including advancing
clean energy, addressing harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie and stopping asian
carp from entering the Great Lakes. The event was held during the annual
Detroit Chamber of Commerce Mackinac Policy Conference, when nearly 2,000
Michigan leaders in government and business gather at the islands Grand Hotel.
Attorney General Nessel reaffirmed one of her top priorities during her election, noting that she intends to “keep that campaign promise and assure all of you that I’m doing everything I possibly can to decommission Line 5.” She indicated that she is providing Governor Whitmer time to negotiate a solution that will shut down the pipeline as quickly as possible but pledged to take legal action to decommission the Line 5 pipeline “by the end of next month” if those negotiations fail to yield appropriate action.
Congressional representatives Dan Kildee (D, Flint) and Andy Levin (D, Warren) also spoke at the reception. They addressed concerns about PFAS contamination and discussed advancing Electric Vehicle charging stations across Michigan and the nation. They both acknowledged the important role that business voices can play in shaping public policy and thanked the business leaders in the Great Lakes Business Network for their leadership.
The Great Lakes Business Network has more than 120 business members from across Michigan and the Great Lakes basin and currently has an open business sign-on letter to advocate for solutions to the ongoing Lake Erie harmful algal bloom crisis, which is predicted to be exacerbated by extreme flooding in the Great Lakes this spring.
Contact: Megan Wittman, megan.wittman@sierraclub.org Chicago, IL – The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has weighed in for the first time on a legal challenge brought by a Wisconsin-based Tribal Nation against Enbridge, a Canadian corporation whose dangerous and outdated Line 5 oil pipeline has been trespassing on the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa […]