An op-ed appeared in the Traverse City Record-Eagle from Oil & Water Don't Mix partner FLOW, and was penned by their executive director, Liz Kirkwood. It makes a compelling case for Michigan to take ownership of the threat posed by Enbridge pipelines.
When we speak of the Great Lakes, intuitively, we say, “Our Great Lakes,” taking pride in their inexplicable power and never daring to assume that a single person or private interest could lay claim to these shared waters.
The Great Lakes, in fact, do belong to all of us. They are a “commons” — protected by our nation’s legal roots reaching back to Rome’s Justinian Code and England’s Magna Carta. Great Lakes states could join the Union only by taking ownership and serving as legal guardians of these common waters held in trust for the public’s use and enjoyment.
"It’s high time for our state leaders to stop deferring to a private interest. The state should immediately collect and publicize all data about the condition of the pipelines in the Straits, apply the law, and involve the public in an open process to determine how best to prevent a catastrophic oil spill in our Great Lakes." - Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director of FLOW
Read the entire article in the Traverse City Record-Eagle
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