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Michigan Terminate Straits of Mackinac Pipeline Easement Initiative (2018)
| Michigan Terminate Straits of Mackinac Pipe Line Easement Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Environment and Natural resources | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Michigan Terminate Straits of Mackinac Pipe Line Easement Initiative was not on the ballot in Michigan as an indirect initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.
The measure was designed to terminate the Straits of Mackinac Pipeline Easement of 1953. As of 2017, Enbridge, an oil and gas transportation business, used the easement to transport crude oil under the Straits of Mackinac—the five-mile straight between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron that separates the Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula of Michigan.[1] The measure would allow the pipeline to transport natural gas.[2]
The measure would have also prohibited the state from granting easements for a pipeline to transport crude oil or liquid petroleum over, under, through, or upon the bottom of the Great Lakes or Lake St. Clair.[1]
Text of measure
Petition title
The petition language used for circulation was as follows:[1]
| “ | A petition to initiate legislation to enact the Great Lakes Pipeline Safety Regulation Act which would provide for the termination of the Straits of Mackinac Pipe Line Easement granted by the Conservation Commission of the State of Michigan to Lakehead Pipe Line Company, Inc. executed April 23, 1953; require that pipelines subject to the act provide a policy of insurance or bond of at least $4 billion and a surety bond of at least $400 million; prohibit the state from granting easements over, through, under, or upon the bottomlands of the Great Lakes for pipelines to transport crude oil or liquid petroleum products; provide for enforcement of the act; and to supersede any acts, parts of acts, agreement, contract, rule, easement, local charter, ordinance or resolution which conflicts with the act. This proposal is to be voted on in the November 6, 2018 General Election.[3] | ” |
Support
Keep Our Lakes Great led the campaign in support of the initiative. Phil Bellfy, a candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives in 2016, was chair of the campaign.[4]
Opposition
Opponents
- Michigan Chamber of Commerce[5]
Path to the ballot
The indirect initiated state statute was filed with the secretary of state's office on April 24, 2017. The Board of State Canvassers approved the petition for circulation on April 26, 2017. Petitioners were required to collect 252,523 valid signatures within any period of 180 days before May 30, 2018, to get the measure certified for the election on November 6, 2018. No signatures were filed for the initiative.
If the initiative petition received enough valid signatures, then the state legislature would have had 40 days to adopt or reject the proposal. If the legislature rejected or ignored the initiative, then the measure would have been placed on the next general election ballot.
See also
- 2018 ballot measures
- Michigan 2018 ballot measures
- Laws governing the initiative process in Michigan
- Environment on the ballot
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Michigan Secretary of State, "Keep Our Lakes Great Initiative," accessed May 5, 2017
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Ballot proposal would end crude oil through Enbridge's Line 5," April 26, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 9 & 10 News, "Keep Our Lakes Great" Begins Petition to Stop Light Crude from Flowing in Line 5," April 27, 2017
- ↑ Business Insider, "Michigan Chamber Of Commerce Opposes Three Petition Drives That Are Bad Public Policy And Would Take Our State In The Wrong Direction," September 27, 2017
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State of Michigan Lansing (capital) |
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