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Freighter Fails in Great Lakes Highlight Line 5 Risks
After the devastating collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Michiganders are not ruling out a similar tragedy in the Great Lakes. After obtaining a public records request from the U.S. Coast Guard, a new report in the Detroit News discovered that Great Lakes freighters lost control or power more than 200 times between 2012 and May 2022, and crashed with stationary objects more than 60 times over the same decade. While the News notes that a freighter crash similar to the Key Bridge tragedy is unlikely with the Mackinac Bridge, there is a profound risk of damaging Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.
Our State Budget- Making the Hard Choices to Protect our Water
In early March, Governor Whitmer announced her first state budget proposal. Much of the press coverage of Governor Whitmer’s budget so far has focused on her proposal to increase the gas tax by 45 cents per gallon ovcritical road infrastructure investments. The focus on a single aspect of the budget has resulted in several key components of the budget proposal, which would have significant impacts on our water, being neglected.
The Governor’s proposal includes $120 million to address water infrastructure and water contamination issues, plus an additional $60 million earmarked for lead-free
Making Polluters Pay in Michigan
Michigan once had the strongest “polluter pay” law in the country. In 1995 the polluter pay law was gutted. Today there are hundreds of sites across the state contaminated by corporate polluters, and yet Michigan taxpayers are on the hook to pay for cleanups.