Governor Gretchen Whitmer filed a response brief in a lawsuit over the Line 5 dual pipelines, which sit exposed on the lakebed in the Straits of Mackinac and transport oil through the Great Lakes.
Whitmer and the Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources revoked Enbridge's easement in November 2020. Enbridge sued in 2020, arguing that the State of Michigan, having approved running an oil pipeline through the Great Lakes in 1953, is forever bound by that decision.
Whitmer's brief challenged Enbridge's claim that it can continue to pump oil through the Great Lakes regardless of what the state says. The governor asserted that the Mackinac Straits belong to the people of Michigan, not to oil companies or the federal government.
The Great Lakes contain 21 percent of the world's fresh surface water and supply drinking water for more than 40 million people, according to the state. The lakes support a $9.3 trillion regional economy, including hundreds of thousands of jobs in Michigan.
Whitmer described the Line 5 pipeline as a potential risk to the public and the Great Lakes. She noted that an Enbridge pipeline ruptured in 2010, causing one of the worst inland oil spills in U.S. history and dumping one million gallons of oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River.
Since taking office, Whitmer said she has signed clean energy legislation requiring a 100 percent clean energy standard by 2040, established the MI Clean Water plan as an over $4.6 billion investment to protect the Great Lakes, and secured more than $600 million for Michigan parks and public lands through the Building Michigan Together Plan.