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Tag: Dana Nessel
Line 5 Oil Tunnel in the Great Lakes: Is the Die Cast for the Next 99 Years?
Published on October 28th, 2020 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, H2Olson, News
Photo: Jim Olson, FLOW's Founder and Legal Advisor, makes arguments in a Sept. 30, 2020, court hearing conducted online. The hearing considered motions made by Enbridge regarding the proper scope of the Michigan Public Service Commission's review of the proposed Line 5 oil tunnel.
There was good news and bad news in a state administrative law judge's October 23 ruling that addressed legal arguments over what the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) can and cannot evaluate when deciding whether to permit the siting of Enbridge's proposed oil pipeline tunnel project under the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron.
First, the good news: Judge Dennis Mack rejected Enbridge's attempt to escape accountability by restricting the MPSC's review to the impacts associated with the mere installation of a new Line 5 oil pipeline into the tunnel after it is built. The MPSC must consider the impacts from construction to nearby surface waters, wetlands, and the overall safety of the location and construction of both the pipeline and the tunnel that would house it.
Now, the bad news: The judge granted the Canadian energy pipeline giant's bid to exclude evidence from the MPSC's review that the oil pipeline tunnel would worsen the climate crisis and cause other environmental harm. The judge also excluded from the MPSC's consideration of the public necessity to transport up to 8 billion gallons of oil a year for 99 more years in an era of falling demand for crude oil and an economy rapidly shifting to renewable energy.
Absent a successful appeal by FLOW or other intervening parties in the case to the three-member MPSC to overturn the ruling, as Julius Caesar said when he crossed the Rubicon, Alea iacta est—the die is cast.
Clockwise from top-left: Dennis Mack (Administrative Law Judge); Spencer Sattler representing MPSC staff; Assistant Attorney General Robert Reichel representing the Michigan Department of the Attorney General; Chris Bzdok, representing Michigan Environmental Council, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; Christopher Clark representing Bay Mills Indian Community; Margrethe Kearney, ELPC attorney representing the Environmental Law & Policy Center and Michigan Climate Action Network.
September Court-Zoom Drama
Judge Mack's ruling on the scope of evidence the MPSC can consider followed sharply divided legal arguments on September 23 in a Zoom call from lawyers for Enbridge, the Michigan Public Service Commission, the Michigan Department of Attorney General, Native American tribes, FLOW, and several other public interest organizations. The judge heard a wide range of legal arguments over the scope of the MPSC's review of impacts, necessity, and alternatives to Enbridge's proposed utility tunnel and tunnel pipeline. The tunnel would extend the life of Line 5 and facilitate the transport of as much in total as 800 billion gallons of crude oil through Michigan and under the bottomlands and waters of the Straits of Mackinac for almost another century. Nothing less than the authority of the MPSC to protect the people of Michigan, the environment, the climate, and the future public interest of the citizens of Michigan is at stake, according to arguments made orally and also filed by FLOW and others.
Lawyers for Enbridge, in court and in their filing, pushed to strip the MPSC of its authority to review anything but a simple replacement of old plumbing with new plumbing for Line 5 in the Straits. In short, Enbridge argued that the MPSC could not evaluate any impacts from the massive tunnel, the need for the tunnel in a rapidly declining market for crude oil, or the billions of dollars in damage and cost from rising Great Lakes water levels, flooding, and collapsing of infrastructure in Michigan tied directly to the burning of fossil fuels and climate change. Rather, lawyers for Enbridge argued the MPSC could look at only the physical impacts of removing old dual pipelines and replacing them with a new pipeline put in a new tunnel in the bedrock and mixture of rock and soil under the lakebed.
In contrast, the lawyers for intervening parties in the case—including on behalf of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Bay Mills Indian Community, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, FLOW, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Michigan Climate Action Network, Michigan Environmental Council, National Wildlife Federation, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council—argued for a broader scope of review concomitant with the magnitude of the proposed 99-year $500 million+ tunnel and new pipeline. They argued that the tunnel and pipeline are inseparable, and that it is a single project that would commit the state of Michigan to the environmental and public health impacts of the transport of up to 8 billion barrels of crude oil a year, carried from Canada under the Straits of Mackinac and back into Canada to Sarnia's Chemical Valley cluster of refineries and chemical plants.
Public Need, Public Interest, Public Trust, and a Private Tunnel
Lawyers challenging Enbridge pointed out that Act 16, the law that defines the MPSC's scope of review, imposes three standards and findings before a utility project like this can be legally approved: (1) the demonstration of need to realize a true public need; (2) safety and consistency with the public interest; and (3) the project is a reasonable alternative. Lawyers for FLOW and the other groups and tribes also pointed out that the MPSC has a duty under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) to prevent and minimize likely impairment to the air, water, and natural resources, and the public trust in those resources, and to find there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the project.
The question of a public need for the project faces the reality of rapidly falling demand for oil and a sea change in investment toward renewable energy and a conservation economy. There are alternatives to continuing to risk the Great Lakes and our water-based economy, including the obvious use of excess capacity in Enbridge's greatly expanded oil pipeline across southern Michigan to Sarnia that replaced the corporation's aged line that ruptured and caused the devastating 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill disaster. Lawyers for the tribes made clear that the environmental impacts of the proposed oil tunnel pose serious threats to tribal fishing and sovereignty over their treaty waters. Feasible and prudent alternatives clearly exist that are more consistent with the public interest of the citizens of Michigan, and the Michigan Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that the state has a duty to comprehensively consider the likely effects and range of alternatives in deciding the necessity of a project like the century-spanning tunnel and pipeline. [Highway Comm'n v Vanderkloot, 392 Mich 159 (1974)]
The public interest in this proceeding includes our environment, protected by the MEPA, but it is also defined by what the public trust in the air, water, and environment of our Great Lakes—an ancient, irrevocable legal principle that protects the overarching rights of the public to enjoy the Great Lakes for navigation, fishing, drinking water, sustenance, boating, and swimming. [Obrecht v National Gypsum Co., 361 Mich 399 (1960); Illinois Central R Rd v Illinois, 146 U.S. 387 (1892)] This public trust imposes an affirmative and perpetual duty on governmental agencies, like the MPSC, to protect these legal-beneficiary rights of citizens.
Enbridge's Narrow View of Public Oversight
Enbridge tried unsuccessfully to avoid or narrow the MPSC's review of the crude oil tunnel project last April, when it asked the MPSC to rule that the tunnel proposed today was covered by its ruling existing 67 years ago on the existing Line 5 pipelines in the Straits. Agreeing with FLOW and others, the MPSC rejected the attempt, and issued an order on June 30, as FLOW chronicled, that concluded, "the Commission finds that the Enbridge's Line 5 Project involves significant factual and policy questions and complex legal determinations that can only be resolved with the benefit of discovery, comprehensive testimony and evidence, and a well-developed record." [MPSC Order, June 30, 2020, Case No. U-20763]
The October 23 ruling by Administrative Law Judge Mack rejected Enbridge's argument that the authority of the MPSC was restricted to replacing the old dual lines with a new single line in a tunnel. The judge ruled definitively, as argued by the organizations and tribes, that the tunnel is inseparable from the pipeline, and the impacts and operation of both must be considered. On the other hand, the judge interpreted more narrowly the MPSC's June 30 order that signaled a desire for a "well-developed record" on all of the complex issues involved in the oil pipeline tunnel project. The judge's decision rejected arguments by the Attorney General, organizations, and tribes that the MPSC must undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the need, safety, impacts, and alternatives, including the inherent commitment by the state to permit the transport of nearly a trillion gallons of oil over the next 99 years, the lack of need for this oil, and the devastating effects of climate change.
Context is King: Construction Project or Climate Change Nightmare?
All of the parties in the case will be evaluating the effect of the judge's decision to allow consideration of the impacts of the tunnel and pipeline construction, but exclude consideration of overall necessity, impacts, and alternatives of the century-spanning tunnel and pipeline project. Any party has a right to request a full review and decision by the three members of the MPSC itself. The parties, conversely, could choose to proceed in a hearing set for February 12, 2021, with testimony and evidence limited by the judge to just the impacts of building the tunnel and moving the pipeline. If the latter course is taken, then indeed Michigan will have crossed the Rubicon on the climate crisis and protecting the Great Lakes and ourselves from the worst of it.
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan Climate Action Network, Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan Public Service Commission, National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline 5, Straits of Mackinac, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council
Turning the Spotlight on Line 5 in the Great Lakes
Published on August 5th, 2020 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, H2Olson, News
FLOW Founder and Legal Advisor
Last week the Michigan Attorney General's Office chose not to appeal a lower court ruling upholding the constitutionality of a law that facilitates the framework for an oil tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac—forgoing any further challenge, but, in reality, yielding no strategic legal ground.
Don't get me wrong. The constitutionality of the Act 359 "tunnel law" under the so-called "Title-Object" clause of article 4, section 24 of Michigan's Constitution always has been an important question. This clause requires the purpose of a bill be stated in its title. Clearly, the legislature had no business stating the tunnel project was a public project like the Mackinac Bridge, then passing a law that allows a company to build, operate, and control its own private tunnel pipeline.
But the tunnel law only sets up a framework for a tunnel and new pipeline in the Straits. By forgoing any further appeal of the "Title-Object" question, the spotlight turns on the more central question at hand:
Can Canada's Enbridge obtain the required authorizations under the rule of law, for its private gain and control, for a massive tunnel and tunnel pipeline beneath the public trust bottomlands of the Great Lakes?
The lame-duck legislature's tunnel law and agreements signed by the Snyder Administration in its last days in 2018 sought to tie the hands of the newly elected Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who took their oaths of office on January 1, 2019. But the 11th-hour maneuvers failed to bind the new leaders. Why? Because Act 359—the tunnel law—and the related tunnel agreements compel Enbridge to obtain the required approvals and permits for the location and construction of the tunnel and tunnel pipeline under all applicable federal and state laws. In other words, constitutional or not, the law simply begs the question.
The tunnel is not a done deal. Under the law, Enbridge is required to obtain a long list of governmental approvals and permits. Notably, it needs authorization under Michigan's Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (GLSLA) for easements and leases for location of the tunnel, a construction permit, and authorization to locate the pipeline in the tunnel as a "public utility" under the public trust bottomlands of the Great Lakes.
Moreover, Enbridge can't even apply for location of the tunnel pipeline until it obtains certification of the new line as a "public utility" from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC). Thus, in addition to the required authorizations under the GLSLA, Enbridge also must prove and the MPSC must make findings that the tunnel is "necessary" and "in the public trust interest" in the uncertain and tumultuous world of 2020—declining crude oil markets, climate change, and rapid transition to a renewable economy that just may make life livable for our children and grandchildren in this century.
Not only are these findings required, but the MPSC also must find that there are no "likely environmental impacts" and that there are "no feasible and prudent alternatives" to the new tunnel—when there are thousands of miles of crude oil pipelines owned by Enbridge and its competitors crisscrossing North America in every direction. Enbridge's super-sized replacement of the ruptured Line 6B pipeline that despoiled the Kalamazoo River in 2010 has enough unused design capacity to nearly equal the average amount of crude oil pumped through Line 5 every day. The proposed oil tunnel is not necessary, clearly not in the public interest at this time in history, and there are alternatives that are both feasible and prudent.
After the tunnel law passed, Enbridge received an assignment of an easement and a 99-year lease-back from the Michigan Department Natural Resources (DNR) to locate, use, and operate the proposed tunnel and tunnel pipeline under the bottomlands of the Great Lakes. But Governor Snyder, the DNR, and Enbridge have not applied for authorization of this conveyance and lease under public trust law and the GLSLA. And, the tunnel and tunnel pipeline have not been certified by the MPSC. Nor has the project been authorized by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
So, it is not surprising the constitutionality of the tunnel law aside, the central effort at this point must seek a prompt shutdown of the imminently dangerous conditions surrounding the existing dual pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. And, as for the tunnel, the spotlight must determine whether the massive tunnel project should or can ever be approved under the rule of law of Michigan—the laws that protect the constitutional and public trust interests of our quality of life.
It's time to navigate what we face in the 21st century, rather than remain stuck in the irons of the 20th century, when the 67-year-old Line 5 was installed in the open waters of the Great Lakes.
Line 5 Must Be Closed Before Disaster Strikes
The 67-year-old dual Line 5 pipelines continue to operate in the Straits of Mackinac, threatening the Great Lakes with a massive oil spill from a leak or rupture in the worst possible place in the country. Hazards include strong currents, underestimated for the "as built" pipes, anchor strikes, and, now, we learn, anchor lines that dragged along the pipes, and tore out a saddle support, installed because the strong currents were scouring and undermining the original as built dual pipelines.
Attorney General Dana Nessel filed suit (Nessel v Enbridge) against Enbridge in Ingham County Circuit Court to decommission Line 5 in an orderly fashion to prevent well over $6 billion in damages and irreparable long-term harm should a spill occur. The existing Line 5 dual lines and this lawsuit must proceed. It is not, and should not be, tied to the proposed tunnel; these dual lines need to be closed down before an inevitable accident or rupture happens. Circuit Judge James Jamo has stopped use of the east leg of Line 5, and is considering the revocation of a 1953 easement that was given conditionally to Enbridge, but without any understanding of the conditions that exist in 2020.
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge, Line 5
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation Calls on Governor, EGLE Director to Withdraw Permit for Nestlé's Water Grab
Published on May 27th, 2020 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, News
Peggy Case, MCWC
By Peggy Case, President, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
Rarely does a ruling by a state Administrative Law Judge overturn a permit issued by a state agency. In the contested case hearing on the Nestlé permit to withdraw more than 500,000 gallons of water per day from a White Pine Springs well near Evart, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) had hoped the administrative law judge would reverse the former Snyder administration's unwarranted permission for Nestlé's permit.
But on April 24, the administrative law judge in the case before the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) issued a proposal for decision that would uphold the permit, and recommended that Liesl Clark, Director of EGLE, render a final decision in Nestlé's favor. Fortunately, the decision is only a proposal, and our attorneys have advised us that MCWC and the Grand Traverse Band have a right to file exceptions. So we are urging Director Clark and the Whitmer Administration to reject the footloose interpretation of Michigan's water laws for Nestlé to sell another 210 million gallons of bottled water per year from the headwaters of our lakes and streams.
FLOW ACTION ALERT: Please take action now to write EGLE Director Liesl Clark, as well as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, to urge them to uphold the law and their roles as trustees of our public water by rejecting the Nestlé permit once and for all.
The proposal from the judge is full of errors and interpretations and relies on a model based on assumptions, not actual calculations of the effects, that tipped the cup toward Nestlé. We intend to demonstrate these errors through the filing of exceptions as provided by law. We trust Director Clark and the administration will reject the permit, and follow the legal duty resting with EGLE to apply our water law standards strictly, the way they were intended.
This proceeding and case started with the Snyder Administration's Department of Environmental Quality when it granted the permit in April 2018, despite compelling legal arguments and massive public opposition. Today, we have new leadership and a new Director at the helm of EGLE.
The Governor and Attorney General campaigned on a promise to change the way we do business in Michigan when it comes to protecting water resources and promoting water justice. Unfortunately, to date, the administration through EGLE and the Attorney General's office has continued to defend the Nestlé permit and filed a brief asking to throw out our contested case and grant the permit. This is difficult to comprehend when we consider that in the spring of 2017, 600 people opposed to the permit drove or took buses from all over the state to attend the hearing. Citizens submitted more than 80,000 comments opposing that permit in the first place.
We know this Administration can do better in support of the voters, the water, and the damaged ecosystem in Osceola Township. It can do better than ignore the injustice in Flint where many households are still not assured of clean, affordable tap water. It can do better than give away another 210 million gallons of water a year to Nestlé while thousands of homes in Detroit still do not have running water.
In 2005, in relation to a lawsuit MCWC filed in Mecosta County in 2000, a Michigan appeals court upheld the science and law that 400 gallons per minute from a well in a Michigan glacial headwater spring, wetlands, or creek system causes substantial harm. The court did so because date before, during, and after pumping on the withdrawals and pumping rates showed a direct correlation of pumping at 200 to 400 gallons per minute and drops in flows and levels and serious impacts. But when the 2018 permit was issued, the data was lacking, and what data existed was not used to calculate effects but fed into a computer model targeted to find little harm.
By filing the exceptions and legal brief with the Director, we are urging her to conduct an independent review of the facts and loose interpretations, and overturn a permit that was based on twisting those facts and the law to favor private gain at the expense of our public water.
MCWC and the GTB ask the Whitmer administration, the Attorney General and Director Clark to return state government to respecting the paramount duty of our state leaders to protect our state's water and live up to the public trust responsibilities granted by our State Constitution and water laws.
We expect the Attorney General and the Director of EGLE to take this opportunity, presented to them by our persistent work, to actually look at the record and the laws in question and do what is right for the people and our precious waters. We expect them to withdraw this permit for Nestlé's water grab and direct their energies to repairing the injustices of lack of affordable water access in communities such as Detroit and Flint.
Note from FLOW: To support MCWC's vital work to protect our public trust waters from privatization and commercialization, click here.
Tags: Dana Nessel, Governor Whitmer, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, Nestle
Courtroom Showdown Coming Friday over Line 5 Shutdown
Published on May 20th, 2020 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, H2Olson, News
Michigan A.G. Dana Nessel's team to make arguments in historic public trust case to end threat of Great Lakes oil spill
Streaming live online this Friday morning, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel or members of her staff—attorneys Peter Manning, Bob Reichel, and Dan Bock, steeped in water and natural resources law—will make historic arguments to bring Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac under the rule of law and lead to its orderly closure. Nessel's action was taken to protect the public trust of all of Michigan's citizens, now and in the future, in Attorney General Dana Nessel On Behalf of the People of Michigan v. Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership, et al., before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge James S. Jamo.
Click here to view FLOW's amicus brief in the Nessel v. Enbridge case, as well as amici briefs also filed by the Sierra Club and three states in support of Michigan Attorney General's lawsuit to shut down Enbridge's Line 5.
Line 5 in Court: Watch Live on Friday, May 22, at 9 a.m. EST
The public can watch this legal effort by the State of Michigan to shut down Line 5, which is supported FLOW and other organizations standing up for the public trust in our Great Lakes. This case is set for oral argument at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 22. According to the Court, you may watch the hearing by tuning in to the livestream on Judge Jamo's YouTube Channel.
After 6 years of stalling and unfulfilled promises by former Governor Rick Snyder's administration and former Attorney General Bill Schuette, Michigan voters in 2018 ushered in new leaders—Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who pledged to end Line 5's threat to the Straits, where Lake Michigan converges and collides with Lake Huron.
Last June, Attorney General Nessel fulfilled her promise to take swift, strong action to bring an end to the unacceptable, massive, catastrophic risk of damage to the Great Lakes posed by Enbridge's 67-year-old Line 5 the Straits of Mackinac.
Growing Pile of Evidence against Line 5
The State of Michigan's legal action comes in response to growing evidence of Line 5's failed design, anchor strikes, strong currents, sloughing and shored-up pipelines operating beyond their life expectancy, admitted inability to clean up a spill, and a conservative, worst-case scenario rupture from an anchor strike (which actually happened on April 1, 2018, narrowly avoiding a spill) forecast to trigger more than $6 billion of measurable damages. Scientific studies show that a spill would smother several hundred miles of shoreline, affect up to 60 percent of Lake Huron's surface area and a substantial portion of Lake Michigan, close drinking water and sanitation systems of cities like Mackinac Island, shut down fishing, kill fish and fish habitat, halt shipping, and cause irreparable damage and impairment of public uses, private property, businesses, and the ecological diversity of the upper reaches of two Great Lakes.
As the chief legal officer of the people of Michigan, A.G. Nessel filed a lawsuit, not just as an attorney, but as the named Plaintiff for the People of Michigan—she is bringing this action as Attorney General and on behalf of the citizens of Michigan to decommission and shut down Line 5 because of its unlawful breach of the public trust in the Great Lakes, failing design and imminent risks in the Straits of Mackinac.
Historic Public Trust Case the First brought by a Michigan Attorney General for the People in 60 Years
The attorney general's action is truly historic. Why?
It has been 60 years since an Attorney General of Michigan filed a lawsuit to protect the paramount public trust in the Great Lakes and legal rights of citizens as beneficiaries to enjoy and use our waters for navigation, fishing, boating, drinking water, swimming, historic and biological research, and recreation. That's right. It's been 60 years since then Michigan Attorney General, later state Supreme Court Justice, Paul Adams won a landmark victory in 1960 in Obrecht v National Gypsum Co. (361 Mich 399 (1960)), a landmark Michigan Supreme Court case putting a stop to unauthorized industrial encroachment and risk to the public trust and paramount protected uses of our Great Lakes.
Cottage owners and citizens along the shore of Lake Huron filed a lawsuit to stop the encroachment of a large industrial loading dock to reach ships a quarter-mile into Lake Huron. Justice Adams intervened as a party in the case and aligned himself and the People of Michigan with the cottagers and citizens whose use and enjoyment of the trust waters of Lake Huron would be subordinated to the private use of the industrial dock and mining company. After an extensive battle in the lower courts and arguments in the Supreme Court, the Court sided with Justice Adams and the people of Michigan.
Writing for the Court, Justice Black, a lawyer from the shoreline City of Port Huron, foreshadowed the future battles over the Great Lakes:
The last great frontiers of Michigan's public domain lie submerged between her thousands of miles of shoreline… [T]he courts of these inland coastal states may well brace themselves for a series of new questions having to do with the nature and alienability of sovereign title to such domain and the inevitable collision of riparian rights… with the sovereign responsibility [of the state] as permanent trustee thereof. These cases become a notable forerunner. (Id. 361 Mich at 403)
The defendant National Gypsum Corporation claimed the private riparian right as owner of lake frontage to build a dock into the lake as far as needed to reach deep-draft ships. Justice Adams and his allies argued that the private right was subordinate to the public trust rights of citizens. Reaching back to 100 years of court fights over the St. Clair Flats and Lake Michigan, and relying on the 1892 U.S. Supreme Court Illinois Central case that ruled the Great Lakes were subject to the public trust doctrine, our Michigan Court ruled that a private corporation could not subordinate or alienate the public trust in the Great Lakes:
No part of the beds of the Great Lakes, belonging to Michigan can be alienated or otherwise devoted to private use in the absence of due finding of one of two exceptional reasons for such alienation or devotion to non-public use.
No one… has the right to construct for private use a permanent deep-water dock or pier on the bottom lands of the Great Lakes… unless and until he has sought and received, from the legislature or its authorized agency, such assent based on the finding as will legally warrant the intended use of such lands. Indeed, and aside from the common law as expounded in Illinois Central, the legislature bids us construe its design and purpose 'so as to preserve and protect the interests of the general public' in such submerged lands and as authorizing the sale, lease, exchange or other disposition of such submerged lands when and only when it is 'determined by the department of conservation that such lands have no substantial public value for hunting, fishing, swimming, pleasure boating or navigation and that the general public interest will not be impaired by such sales, lease or other disposition.' (Id., at 412-413, citing and adopting Illinois Central R. Co. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387, 455-60 (1892)).
The Public Trust Imposes a High, Solemn Duty on the Government
Unlike other natural resource laws, the public trust imposes a high, solemn duty on the government to protect these waters, bottomlands, habitat, shorelines, and paramount public uses from private takeover or impairment (Collins v Gerhardt, 237 Mich 38, 49 (1926). The public trust doctrine imposes on the State as trustee "a high solemn and perpetual trust which it is the duty of the State to forever maintain."). Justice Black and the Court agreed "with the attorney general that the public title and right is supreme as against National Gypsum's asserted right of wharfage, and hold that the latter may be exercised by the Company only in accordance with the regulatory assent of the State. No such assent has been given and, for that reason alone, the chancellor erred in decreeing that National Gypsum might proceed with what in law has become, since entry of such decrees, an entry upon and unlawful detention of State property." (Id., at 413-414)
So, in 2020 once again a collision looms over the right of a corporation to occupy for itself the state-titled trust bottomlands and waters of the Straits of Mackinac, the very heart of the Great Lakes, for its aged dual pipelines to transport crude oil to its private markets. It cannot do so without the assent of the State "in the absence of due findings" that the one or two of the narrow exceptions apply. In short, public trust law as one would expect does not authorize any deed, occupancy, or alienation of public trust bottomlands and waters except where there are findings that the private use protects and promotes the public trust interests and protected uses—navigation, fishing, boating, drinking water, swimming, and other recreational or ecological purposes—or that these treasured public trust resources have no such public value.
Courtroom Context on May 22
Let's return to the present, May 2020. Like Paul Adams in 1960, our State Attorney General Dana Nessel and her lawyers Manning, Reichel, and Bock have filed briefs and will argue Friday that the 67-year-old Enbridge Line 5, like National Gypsum's private industrial dock in 1960, is unlawful under the high, solemn public trust law and duties of government that apply to our Great Lakes.
The facts are undisputed. In 1953, after the legislature delegated authority to grant public utility easements over or under state lands, including our public trust Great Lakes, the Department of Conservation never made any findings that the easement to Enbridge for its dual crude oil pipelines (1) would preserve and protect the public's public interests and uses, or (2) do not have substantial public value for navigation, fishing, boating, swimming, other accepted public trust uses. Without these findings, Line 5 must be terminated. The only way the Enbridge's private use can be validated is for the company to apply to the State for findings in 2020 that the known risks of devastating unacceptable harm to the Great Lakes, communities, property owners, businesses and citizens is consistent with and will protect these paramount public trust uses, or that the Straits of Mackinac has no public value for these uses.
A Powerful Mix of Duty, Integrity, Courage on Display
We applaud Attorney General Nessel and her legal staff for their courage to take a stand in fulfillment of their solemn duty to protect and preserve the integrity of the public trust in our bottomlands and waters of or Great Lakes. Yes, this case is about integrity, and it has all the hallmarks to become the next historical milestone in the history and jurisprudence over the great frontier of those lands and waters between our shores.
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge, Pipeline 5, Public Trust Doctrine
Chronicling FLOW's Accomplishments in 2019
Published on December 27th, 2019 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, News
Powered by our supporters, FLOW had quite a year in 2019.
Our legal advocacy work to restore the rule of law made a big impact at the state level. Michigan's new Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a public trust lawsuit on June 27 to revoke the 1953 easement that conditionally authorizes Enbridge to operate its 66-year-old Line 5 oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac.
"This is a watershed moment in the battle to decommission Line 5, prevent a catastrophic oil spill, and protect the Great Lakes, an economic engine for our state and the source of drinking water for millions," said FLOW executive director Liz Kirkwood about Nessel's bold legal action.
On December 3, the Michigan Court of Appeals nullified a lower court order that would have allowed the bottled water giant Nestlé to build an industrial booster pump facility to remove millions of gallons of groundwater per year from Osceola Township. The court affirmed that bottled water is neither an "essential public service" nor a "public water supply".
"Bottled water diversion and export operations can no longer be paraded as public," said FLOW founder and president Jim Olson. "The purpose of the bottled water industry has only one purpose—maximum profit off the sale of packaged public water."
Meanwhile, a bill has been introduced in Lansing by Rep. Yousef Rabhi that extends public trust protection to groundwater and mandates that the state protect that water.
Our work has had a national impact as well. In February, the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed that we have a public trust right to walk the Great Lakes shorelines below the natural high water mark of private property, when it declined to hear an Indiana case filed by riparian land owners. Jim Olson was involved in the original case.
Education and protective policy
FLOW launched several education campaigns in 2019 including a Groundwater Awareness Week, what it is and why it matters; the Michigan Septic Summit on Nov. 6 that convened parties from public health officials to realtors to watershed nonprofits to generate new partnerships and build political will to pass a statewide septic code; an environmental economics project and four policy briefs by former FLOW board chair Skip Pruss about the benefits of government regulation to protect the environment and public health; and a Public Trust month in July that included a "Great Lakes Passport" and a month-long series of videos that featured the public answering the question: "Who owns the Great Lakes?".
We advocated for several protective policies in 2019, including a two-pronged proposal to the International Joint Commission (IJC) for an emergency pilot study and urgent action to address the effects of climate change on the Great Lakes, the inclusion of funding for clean water in Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's budget, and the need for statewide requirements for septic system inspection, particularly given that Michigan is the only state in the nation without any statewide septic code.
The International Joint Commission, which held a public hearing in Traverse City on July 24, also appointed FLOW executive director Liz Kirkwood to its Great Lakes Water Quality Board.
"I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with people from all across the Great Lakes Basin to help improve protection of these public trust waters," Kirkwood said. "Our challenge in this new century, then, is to break the constant cycle of ruin and recovery, and replace it with sustained protection and prosperity. This is critical in the context of the climate crisis where we are testing the capacity of our ecosystems to rebound."
FLOW senior policy advisor Dave Dempsey was also invited to present at the Great Lakes Funders Conference in Cleveland in late October.
Celebrating water
FLOW held several events in 2019 to recognize the importance of inspiring citizens viscerally and emotionally (as well as cerebrally) to protect the Great Lakes. We launched our "Art Meets Water" webpage to highlight examples of the heartfelt creativity that inspires us to fight for our public waters. "We all know that water is the source of the future," says Leelanau County writer Anne-Marie Oomen. "But it's also a part of our souls and our spirits."
On June 28, cellist Crispin Campbell and "Mad Angler" poet Mike Delp performed at our "In Praise of Water" benefit for FLOW at the Cathedral Barn at Historic Barns Park in Traverse City. "The Mad Angler finds himself upset about the state of affairs that Michigan rivers find themselves in," said Delp. "When you hear that deep sound coming out of the cello, that's the heart of where this comes from… I'm right down inside that cello."
On July 24, Oomen and the Beach Bards storytellers' troupe presented, "Love Letters to the Lakes" (which she had solicited from writers across Michigan) in a live reading to the International Joint Commission, in hopes that deeply personal prose would impact public policy to protect the Great Lakes. And on October 11, Higher Art Gallery in Traverse City held "Artists for FLOW," inviting local artists to share water-inspired works for a show that benefits our fight to protect that water.
After all, protecting the Great Lakes is "A Matter of the Heart" writes FLOW supporter Jerry Beasley:
"What I have learned, and what I believe in the most elemental way, is that our first and most basic relationship with water is anchored in love. In the absence of love, there is the great risk of indifference and failure to protect this resource that, under the Public Trust Doctrine, belongs to us all and is essential to life. If the heart is not engaged, the waters will not be saved. So, while we marshal facts and organize and encourage activism, let us remember to acknowledge the power of our affections and make them a guiding principle in all that we do."
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge, International Joint Commission, Line 5, Liz Kirkwood, Michigan septic summit, Nestle bottled water, Public Trust, Straits of Mackinac
Digging a Hole for Future Generations
Published on August 21st, 2019 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, News
By 4-3 Vote, Grand Traverse County Commissioners Support 'Line 5' Oil Tunnel in the Great Lakes
By Kelly Thayer
After a brief rally outside with many participants wearing black t-shirts saying, "No Line 5 Oil Tunnel," dozens of people this morning (August 21) overflowed the meeting room and lobby of the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners in Traverse City. In all, 54 residents spoke out for the next 2 ½ hours against a resolution supporting a proposed tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac. Only two people — one an owner of a local gas and oil company — spoke for the oil tunnel.
And then the county commissioners had the final say, with the majority ultimately disagreeing with their own constituents and voting 4-3 for the resolution. (Click here to view a video of the meeting.)
The outcome was disheartening to many in attendance who spoke of Enbridge's spill-laden track record and the risk to the Great Lakes, drinking water, the economy, tribal rights, the climate, and a way of life that could be denied to future generations.
"It's not a good pipeline. And for all the reasons already said, it needs to be shut down. And so promoting the life of it isn't exactly helpful for my generation, or generations that come after me – or your generation! It's not good for our water, it's not good for our state, it's not good for the world! So just consider that, please," said Kellyn Walker Hundley, a teenager who attended and also is the daughter of Commissioner Bryce Hundley, an opponent of the resolution.
The pro-tunnel result delivered a boost for Enbridge, which didn't comment at the meeting, but instead is letting its money do the talking by spending heavily on public relations and lobbying to gain support among counties statewide for their proposed oil tunnel. Only three other counties — all in the Upper Peninsula — to date have approved the model resolution that bears close resemblance to talking points that Line 5-owner Enbridge has circulated for months.
The Canadian energy transport giant's goal is to build political backing for a tunnel as a replacement for its decaying oil pipelines crossing the open waters and bottomlands of the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. Enbridge thought it had secured the oil tunnel in late 2018, when Michigan lawmakers rushed through a bill in lame-duck session. In March, however, newly elected Attorney General Dana Nessel found that the oil tunnel legislation to be unconstitutional.
Enbridge sued the State of Michigan in early June to resuscitate the law, and the multibillion-dollar company also is working with the Republican majority, as well as some Democrats, in the state House and Senate to introduce a new oil tunnel bill as early as this month to overcome the flaws flagged by Nessel. Nessel in late June also sued Enbridge to revoke the 1953 easement that conditionally authorizes Enbridge to pump oil through the twin pipelines in the Straits.
FLOW and its team of lawyers, scientists, engineers, and an international risk expert since 2013 have studied the increasing threat from Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac and, more recently, the proposed Line 5 oil tunnel.
FLOW Deputy Director Kelly Thayer read a statement calling on the county board to reject the oil tunnel resolution, which claims an admirable safety record that is at odds with the reality that Line 5 has leaked at least 33 times, spilling a total of 1.1 million gallons of oil in Michigan and Wisconsin.
"It is vital to understand that with a 'yes' vote today for the oil tunnel resolution, you would effectively be interfering in ongoing litigation between Enbridge and the State of Michigan," Thayer said. "Why entangle Grand Traverse County in these legal fights on Enbridge's behalf?"
Enbridge wants the right to bore a tunnel in the next 5-10 years for Line 5 through State of Michigan public trust bottomlands under the Straits. Enbridge also wants to keep pumping up to 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids a day through the decaying, 66-year-old Line 5 pipelines in the Straits during tunnel feasibility studies and construction.
An oil tunnel also would fail to address the risk posed by Line 5's more than 400 stream and river crossings in the Upper and Lower Peninsulas and would conflict with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's plans to combat ongoing climate change.
FLOW and other Great Lakes advocates have long called for shutting down Line 5, which primarily serves Canada's, not Michigan's, needs and threatens the Great Lakes. FLOW research shows that viable alternatives exist to deliver propane to Michigan and oil to regional refineries, and Gov. Whitmer has formed an Upper Peninsula Energy Task Force to identify energy supply options. The system can adjust with smart planning.
You can learn more by visiting FLOW's Line 5 program page and by downloading a copy of FLOW's latest:
Line 5 fact sheet
Line 5 bulleted list of key facts.
Kelly Thayer is FLOW's Deputy Director
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge, Gretchen Whitmer, Line 5, mackinac straits, Shut Down Line 5
No 'Line 5' Oil Tunnel in the Great Lakes!
Published on August 7th, 2019 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, News
Photo: FLOW Deputy Director Kelly Thayer speaks to the Grand Traverse County Board in opposition to a pro-oil tunnel resolution.
Confronted at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday by a full audience passionately and unanimously against a proposed Line 5 oil tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac, the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners voted today to temporarily table a misguided and error-filled resolution supporting the oil tunnel. (Click here to view a video of the meeting, once posted by the county).
Some commissioners also could be heard chatting among themselves before the meeting about the voluminous amount of emailed comments against the oil tunnel that they also received in the hours leading up to the session, as local citizen groups spread the word of the pending vote.
While the outcome was received as a temporary victory in the moment by many in attendance, vigilance still is required. The resolution, which had been expected to gain quick approval, will likely come back for reconsideration — perhaps at a tentatively scheduled 8 a.m., August 14, study session — and then a possible vote at the Grand Traverse County Board's next regular meeting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, August 21, at the Governmental Center at 400 Boardman Ave. in Traverse City.
"I was elected to work for the public interest and the people of Grand Traverse County, not the bottom line of a foreign oil company with a troubling safety record and equally troubling transparency practices," said Commissioner Betsy Coffia after the meeting, who was prepared to oppose the symbolic resolution. "Enbridge pays a lot of lobbyists and lawyers to carry water for them. I don't think it's the job of the Grand Traverse County Commission to do that work for them."
Only one county in Michigan—Dickinson in the Upper Peninsula—to date has approved the model resolution that bears close resemblance to talking points that Line 5-owner Enbridge has circulated for many months. The resolution tabled by Grand Traverse County Commissioners proposes to send "this resolution to all counties of Michigan as an invitation to join in expressing support" for the oil tunnel owned by Canadian-based Enbridge.
Dozens of people representing themselves, families, Indian tribes, businesses, environmental groups, and others attended and many spoke up against the oil tunnel and for protection of the Great Lakes, drinking water, public trust and tribal rights, and the Pure Michigan tourist economy.
FLOW Deputy Director Kelly Thayer read a statement calling on the county board to reject the oil tunnel resolution, which in its first sentence, incorrectly states the age of the decaying pipeline and claims an admirable safety record that is at odds with the reality that Line 5 has leaked at least 33 times, spilling a total of 1.1 million gallons of oil in Michigan and Wisconsin.
"It is critical for the Grand Traverse Board of County Commissioners to understand that—with the proposed resolution in your packet—the Board is being asked to interfere in ongoing litigation between the State of Michigan and Enbridge," Thayer said. "In addition, there are at least four other active lawsuits against Enbridge and Line 5. Therefore, this type of resolution is misguided and not in Grand Traverse County's, nor the public, interest."
In March, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel found that the tunnel bill that became law was unconstitutional. In early June, Enbridge sued the State of Michigan to resuscitate the tunnel legislation. And in late June, the State of Michigan sued Enbridge to revoke the 1953 easement that conditionally authorized Enbridge to pump oil through the twin pipelines.
Attorney General Nessel's lawsuit alleges that Enbridge's continued operation of Line 5 in the Straits violates the Public Trust Doctrine, is a common law public nuisance, and violates the Michigan Environmental Protection Act based on potential pollution, impairment, and destruction of water and other natural resources.
"Why would the current Grand Traverse County Board, which—to our knowledge—has never studied nor discussed the threat from Line 5, take a leap of faith in supporting a Canadian oil pipeline company's alternative that diverts attention from the real problem—the bent, cracked, and encrusted oil pipelines in the Straits?," Thayer asked.
Enbridge wants the right to bore a tunnel in the next 5-10 years for Line 5 through State of Michigan public trust bottomlands under the Straits, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron.
Enbridge also wants to keep pumping up to 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids a day through the decaying, 66-year-old Line 5 pipelines in the Straits during tunnel feasibility studies and construction. An oil tunnel also would fail to address the risk posed by Line 5's more than 400 stream and river crossings in the Upper and Lower Peninsulas and would conflict with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's plans to combat climate change.
The City of Mackinac Island, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and the Straits of Mackinac Alliance citizen group also have filed a contested case challenging Enbridge's claim that installing hundreds of anchor supports to shore up the decaying Line 5 is mere maintenance, rather than a major redesign requiring an application and alternatives analysis under the 1955 Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (GLSLA) and public trust law that apply to the soils and waters of the Great Lakes. Line 5-related lawsuits against the U.S. Coast Guard and against Enbridge in Wisconsin also continue.
And you can contact the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners here:
Rob Hentschel, chair, rhentschel@grandtraverse.org or 231-946-4277
Ron Clous, vice chair, rclous@grandtraverse.org or 231-590-3316
Brad Jewett (introduced the pro-tunnel resolution) bjewett@grandtraverse.org or 231-633-9421
Betsy Coffia, bcoffia@grandtraverse.org or 231-714-9598
Bryce Hundley, bhundley@grandtraverse.org or 231-753-8602
Gordie LaPointe, glapointe@grandtraverse.org or 231-409-2607
Sonny Wheelock, swheelock@grandtraverse.org or 231-947-3277
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge, FLOW, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Gretchen Whitmer, Pipeline 5, Public Trust Doctrine, Shut Down Line 5, Straits of Mackinac, Straits of Mackinac Alliance
The Public Trust and YOU
Published on July 1st, 2019 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, News
"The Great Lakes belong to all of us. It's in our DNA," said FLOW executive director Liz Kirkwood. "We know that those waters that surround us, that bathe us, that nurture us underneath our feet, are inalienable rights for all."
During this high-water month of July, FLOW will publish video postcards each weekday that feature Michiganders (and citizens of the Great Lakes Basin) explaining what the Public Trust Doctrine means to us and how our precious, publicly-owned fresh water shapes our lives and relationship to this place we call home.
"We chose July because this is the height of summer and the connections people have with our waters," added Kirkwood. "This is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to the Great Lakes and think about what stewardship really means. What will we do to make sure these waters are protected for our children and our children's children?"
At its core, the Public Trust is a set of legal principles establishing the public right to our natural resources. It also establishes the government's responsibility to protect public health and public rights to use those natural resources. Our goal is to increase everyday awareness about the Public Trust and make it feel less like a legal term and more like an existential code by which we all live.
We saw the Public Trust Doctrine in action last week when the State of Michigan and Attorney General Dana Nessel took the important step of defending the Great Lakes by suing Enbridge and alleging that its occupation of Line 5 violates the Public Trust.
"When Michigan and other states joined this country, the states took title to all navigable waters and the soils beneath them like the Great Lakes in trust for the benefit of its citizens," said Jim Olson, FLOW president and founder and nationally recognized expert on public trust law. "This means the State has a duty to protect these waters, soils, natural resources, and the rights and uses of citizens from one generation to the next.
"Every citizen is a legally recognized beneficiary for use and enjoyment of these public trust resources for fishing, boating, drinking water, bathing, swimming, and other recreational activities. Governments and private persons cannot interfere with, impair, dispose of or alienate these public trust resources or preferred public rights and uses."
Olson underscored the importance of the Public Trust Doctrine and its principles at this time in history.
"Whether oil pipelines in the Great Lakes, toxic algae and 'dead zones' in Lake Erie, Green Bay, or along Sleeping Bear Dunes, the sale and private control of public water, changes in water levels, erosion, flooding and damage to piers, docks, roads, water infrastructure from global warming and climate climate, the public trust in our waters offers all of us a path forward to address the existing damage and threats, and the world water and climate crisis. When government fails or others refuse to change, citizens have the right to enforce the law to protect their rights and the common good of the community, and their children and grandchildren."
Our Public Trust video postcards this month will feature everyone from a U.S. Senator and a state Attorney General, to leading environmental advocates, to poets and dancers, to boaters and fishermen, to everyday citizens recreating, beach walking and swimming in their public waters. Through these videos, we hope to empower citizens, educate people about beach access rights, discuss the importance of protecting our groundwater, and reinforce the importance of protecting our freshwater in the age of Climate Change.
On the Fourth of July, we'll also unveil an online "Public Trust Passport" that you can view, download or print, and use as a handy guide to learn more about your freshwater recreation rights.
Stay tuned to FLOW's social media feed to learn why Sen. Gary Peters loves backpacking at Isle Royal National Park, why poet Anne-Marie Oomen loves to paddleboard, why toddler Judah Heitman digs swimming and kayaking, and the lifelong resonance of fly fishing with her father on the Boardman River for dancer Sarah Wolff.
Tags: Dana Nessel, For Love of Water, great lakes, jim olson, Line 5, Liz Kirkwood, Public Trust Doctrine
Attorney General Nessel, Governor Whitmer Take Bold Legal Actions to Shut Down Line 5 and Apply Rule of Law
Published on June 27th, 2019 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, News
Today represents a historic turning point for all Michiganders. Attorney General (AG) Dana Nessel took decisive legal action on Pipeline 5 in the Straits of Mackinac when she filed suit in Ingham County Circuit Court to revoke the 1953 Easement that conditionally authorized Enbridge to pump oil through twin pipelines.
Nessel's lawsuit alleges that Enbridge's continued operation of the Straits Pipelines violates the Public Trust Doctrine, is a common law public nuisance, and violates the Michigan Environmental Protection Act because it is likely to cause pollution, impairment, and destruction of water and other natural resources. Simultaneously, Governor Whitmer and the natural resources and environmental protection agencies have taken action through the AG to dismiss Enbridge's June 6 lawsuit to defend the public's rights and waters of the Great Lakes.
"I have consistently stated that Enbridge's pipelines in the Straits need to be shut down as soon as possible because they present an unacceptable risk to the Great Lakes," said the Attorney General. "Governor Whitmer tried her best to reach an agreement that would remove the pipelines from the Straits on an expedited basis, but Enbridge walked away from negotiations and instead filed a lawsuit against the state. Once that occurred, there was no need for further delay."
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also ordered the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to review violations of the Line 5 easement. As the state's top leader and public trustee, Whitmer has the express legal authority to revoke the easement to start decommissioning the pipeline.
"The governor's primary goal has always been and remains to get the Line 5 dual pipelines out of the Straits of Mackinac as soon as possible," said Whitmer's press secretary Tiffany Brown today in a statement. "The risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes, and the harm that would follow to Michigan's economy, tourism, and our way of life, is far too great to allow the pipelines to continue to operate indefinitely. As a recent National Transportation Safety Board report documented, any doubt as to the risk posed by Line 5 was erased in April 2018 when a barge dragging a 12,000-pound anchor nearly caused disaster."
FLOW (For Love of Water) commends Attorney General Nessel's and Governor Whitmer's legal actions against Enbridge. It's about time Michigan's government is standing up for our public waters — waters located in arguably the worst possible place in the Great Lakes for an oil spill to happen.
"Today, Attorney General Nessel returns Michigan and the protection of its citizens, taxpayers, and the Great Lakes to the rule of law," said Jim Olson, president and founder of FLOW. "Governor Whitmer's action on behalf of the state to nullify the lame-duck tunnel agreements also returns Michigan to the rule of law. They should be thanked. No, they should be applauded."
Nessel's move comes three weeks after Enbridge sued the State of Michigan on June 6 to claim its right to continue operating Line 5 and to build and operate a tunnel under the Great Lakes for the next 99 years. It comes just over six months after former Governor Snyder, former Attorney General Schuette and lawmakers gifted Enbridge a one-sided law and set of agreements during their last days in office that handed control of Great Lakes waters and soils beneath the Straits of Mackinac to a private Canadian company for its private gain.
Act 359 and the agreements during the 2018 lame-duck session were designed to allow Enbridge to continue the dangerous and unacceptably grave risks of a failing Line 5 design until the company builds a tunnel to lease for the next 99 years, with massive potential liabilities for the State and citizen taxpayers.
"The deal was approved by a lame-duck session law that was based on dubious constitutional and legal grounds, and sought to suspend the rule of law in Michigan, binding citizens and the state to the control of part of the Great Lakes for the next century," said Olson. "The Snyder administration helped Enbridge run around our state constitution and evade the rule of law that protects the public's ownership and rights in the Great Lakes."
New year, new administration
After taking office on Jan. 1, Governor Whitmer's first move was to direct Attorney General Nessel to examine the legality of the lame-duck tunnel deal. AG Nessel ruled in March that Act 359 violated Michigan law and openly violated the state constitution. Whitmer quickly ordered the executive branch to adhere to Nessel's opinion, preventing the implementation by state agencies of the unlawful deal.
On June 6, Enbridge reacted by filing a lawsuit against the State in an attempt to resuscitate the lame-duck law and agreements, claiming easements and the right to continue using the existing Line 5 in the Straits indefinitely—or until it gets a 99-year tunnel and new pipeline to transport crude oil from Alberta and through Michigan into Ontario.
The Attorney General telegraphed her decision to stand with the Great Lakes. At the Mackinac Policy Conference in late May she told WWMT-TV in West Michigan, "I'm tired of it and we can't have a private company be more important than the natural resources and residents of our state. They don't own us, they don't own the natural resources in this state and I think it's time that we had elected leaders in office that recognize that."
On the campaign trail in 2018, Nessel ran on a message to shut down Line 5.
"No state can cede the Great Lakes or soils under them to a person or private corporation," said Olson. "These lakes and the soils under them are held in public trust for fishing, boating, drinking water, recreation, bathing, swimming for all citizens. This trust cannot be suspended by private agreements. The use of these trust waters and soils can only be authorized under law with transparent findings that there is no private deal or gain and no risk of impairment of current and future generations."
Our freshwater seas are of paramount importance to Michiganders, and citizens throughout the Great Lakes basin. They uphold our economy and represent our very way of life. According to the Great Lakes Commission, Michigan has more than 3,000 miles of freshwater coastline and 11,000 inland lakes that provide residents, businesses, and visitors with access to nearly 20 percent of the world's surface freshwater. More than 800,000 Michigan jobs and $62 billion in resulting annual wages are directly linked to the Great Lakes.
An oil spill in the turbulent Straits of Mackinac between Lakes Michigan and Huron, where the currents create a washing machine effect, could jeopardize all that we are as Michiganders.
"This is a watershed moment in the battle to decommission Line 5, prevent a catastrophic oil spill, and protect the Great Lakes, an economic engine for our state and the source of drinking water for millions," said FLOW executive director Liz Kirkwood. "Attorney General Nessel and Governor Whitmer made strong campaign promises to shut down Line 5, and now our elected leaders are making good on their commitment to protect the Great Lakes."
Reactions from local leaders — both in city hall and in the private sector — were strong.
"Shutting down Line 5 is a priority to those in northern Michigan who rely on the economic benefits of the natural resources we have in our Great Lakes," said Traverse City Mayor Jim Carruthers. "Our Attorney General is right for supporting the immediate shut down of this aging Enbridge Pipeline under our Straits, to ward off the devastating effects of a breach that will destroy all that is important to life 'up north'. As the mayor of Traverse City, I wholeheartedly support these actions to protect the waters around my city for all to enjoy and benefit from."
Business owners like Brian Schwartz of eightyfive MILES, a lifestyle apparel and accessory brand company, reflected on the economic value and significance of the Great Lakes.
"I am the owner of a Great Lakes' inspired start-up and former hedge manager, and I don't see Enbridge's enthusiasm or desire to fund a $500 million tunnel project," he said. "We believe it's a faulty plan and the time is now to shut down Line 5. We support Attorney General Dana Nessel in the State's battle to shut down this aging pipeline. Our company contributes a share of revenues to support Great Lakes' conservation and it would be an ecological disaster and economic catastrophe to Michigan if the pipe were to burst. There's no need to put the State's livelihood and environment at risk."
Deception campaign
"Despite the posturing and rhetoric of Enbridge's media scheme, there are alternatives to the existing Line 5 that do not require a tunnel," said Olson. "These include delivering propane for those pockets of customers in the Upper Peninsula, and the use of excess capacity in other Enbridge lines that run across southern Michigan and northern Indiana to Canada and Detroit. We don't need a 99-year tunnel and pipeline in light of plummeting demand for crude oil as the world economy rapidly shifts to renewable energy."
"The Enbridge lawsuit is a diversion from the reality that the 540,000 barrels of oil are pulsating through a 66-year old pipeline, which is peppered with design flaws, gouges, corrosion, and unavoidably threatened with another anchor strike at any time."
Enbridge has failed to prove itself as a trustworthy and transparent partner. Time and time again, Enbridge has withheld information, attempting to hide Line 5's design flaws, pipeline coating, cracks, gouges, corrosion, and the April 1, 2018 anchor strike that nearly caused a calamitous spill, anchor strikes, and more. Enbridge's operational track record is dismal. Its Line 6B Kalamazoo River disaster in 2010, one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history, cost $1.3 billion in damages. Line 5 has suffered 33 known spills, leaking approximately 1.1 million gallons of oil into Michigan's environment.
An increasingly desperate Enbridge is enlisting allies to engage in what can only be deemed a deceitful Chicken Little campaign. The Canadian company wildly alleges that "shutting down Line 5, even temporarily, would mean lost union jobs, refinery closures, gas price spikes and greater harm to the regional economy every year." The campaign is designed to scare officials into giving the company what it wants — a 99-year lease to use the people's waters and lakebed to transport refined dirty tar sands oil from western Canada primarily to Sarnia, Ontario.
Enbridge makes the absurd claim that the PBF refinery in Toledo, Ohio, would lose a thousand jobs if Line 5 is shut down. But that directly contradicts statements PBF says in its own investor filings, as well as reports from market analysts, emphasizing the refinery has several sources of supply and can adjust them depending on market conditions. PBF also claims that 40% of the jet fuel used at Detroit Metropolitan Airport comes from refined Line 5 petroleum. But PBF and the Marathon Detroit refineries appear to supply only about 9% of the jet fuel used at the airport each day. Alternative pipeline sources can more than make that up. Impacts of a Line 5 shutdown on Metro Airport jet fuel have never before been raised as an issue in the Line 5 debate or when Line 6B ruptured and closed in 2010. Its introduction at the 11th hour after more than five years of controversy over the fate of Line 5 is a transparent effort to alarm the public.
Enbridge has alternatives within its pipeline system to meet all of its and Michigan's needs without using the Mackinac Straits and the Great Lakes. There are several good solutions to assure continued delivery of propane to rural areas in the Upper Peninsula. It may even save Enbridge and its shareholders from shouldering a future stranded asset, as the need for Alberta crude oil, including through Line 5, will plummet in the next decade with the rise of the new renewable energy economy backed by public demand.
Enbridge has a track record of misleading the public and governments about its performance, and its recent efforts are consistent with the company's apparent philosophy of saying anything to keep Line 5 petroleum — and profits — flowing.
FLOW applauds Michigan's top leaders — Gov. Whitmer and AG Nessel — for their leadership in defending the people's rights and public waters of the Great Lakes.
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge, Gretchen Whitmer, jim olson, Pipeline 5, Public Trust Doctrine, Straits of Mackinac
The Future of Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac
Published on April 12th, 2019 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, H2Olson
Now that Michigan's governor and attorney general have sunk the oil tunnel scheme hatched by the last administration, I'm asked nearly every day: What can citizens and state leaders do to shut down the propped-up, banged-up Line 5 oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac for good?
Here's my answer, as succinctly as I can distill it, accompanied by a summary of the law and political history in play.
So what should Governor Whitmer and Attorney General Nessel do?
Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel must take swift and comprehensive actions to review and reverse the improper failure of the former Snyder administration to bring Line 5-owner Enbridge under the rule of law. Enbridge has had its way with Michigan's prior elected officials, and it is time to call a halt to this nonsense. Here are the steps to getting Enbridge out of the Great Lakes for good:
Proposed Oil Tunnel:
Send a Letter: Tunnel Deal Is Dead– Governor Whitmer and Attorney General Nessel should send a formal letter to Enbridge advising the company that its agreements calling for a transfer or occupancy of the Straits of Mackinac public trust bottomlands, the new state-granted easement, and 99-year lease for the proposed oil tunnel that would house a new Line 5 are unenforceable unless Enbridge has obtained authorization under state law – the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (GLSLA).
Line 5 in the Straits:
Send another Letter: No Life Support for Line 5 – Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), along with Attorney General Nessel, should send a letter to Enbridge advising it that the agreements purporting to grant Enbridge occupancy and use of waters and bottomlands the existing Line 5 for 10 years or more are unenforceable, because the former administration and Enbridge failed to obtain the required authorization under the GLSLA.
Apply the Law to the Redesign of the Ailing Pipelines – Governor Whitmer and the DEQ, along with Attorney General Nessel, should investigate and correct the lack of review and showings required by the GLSLA and public trust law for the substantial change in design implemented for the 3 miles of pipeline elevated above the lakebed under the guise of "repair." Enbridge should be instructed that it must show the risks and magnitude of harm are minimal and that there exist no other alternative than the existing line in the Straits or Great Lakes.
How Did We Get Here on Line 5? Tracing the Law and the Politics
The plotting of former Governor Snyder's administration and Enbridge to hand over the public trust soils and bedrock under the Straits of Mackinac for the company to build and operate a new crude oil pipeline in a tunnel for 99 years has been put on hold.
On her first full day in office, Governor Gretchen Whitmer asked Attorney General Dana Nessel for a formal opinion on whether the Snyder-Enbridge agreement and legislature's stamp of approval through a lame-duck law known as "Act 359" to hand over the Straits for Enbridge's tunnel to Enbridge was constitutional. In late March, Attorney General Nessel found it was not constitutional because the legislature tried to graft a private tunnel-pipeline project onto a public infrastructure law that governs a public icon—the Mackinac Bridge.
Read more about the history and law surrounding Line 5 here!
Revoke the Easement – Attorney General Nessel along with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), along with the above actions, revoke the 1953 easement because under the current circumstances the existing Line 5 is no longer in compliance with the common law standards of the paramount interests of the Great Lakes protected by public trust law; if Enbridge desires to continue using the existing line in the Straits, the company must submit an application for authorization of such use and occupancy along with the authorizations identified in this list.
Increase Insurance Requirement and Verify It – Governor Whitmer, the DEQ, and the DNR, with the Attorney General, should require Enbridge to submit financial assurances that cover the worst case economic and natural resources damages of at least $6 billion (significantly more than the current cap of $1.8 billion), retain qualified experts to determine the adequacy of those assurances, and require Enbridge to name the State of Michigan as an "additional insured" and/or "named insured" on its insurance coverage for Line 5. Inadequate insurance is another cause for revoking the easement.
Once the Governor and Attorney General do these things, they will have taken action consistent with their pledge in being elected to lead the State and protect the Great Lakes, by nullifying the improper actions and agreements of their predecessors and bringing Enbridge, finally, under the rule of law. Regardless of the outcome, the interested parties, communities, and persons in this controversy and the government will be required to make determinations concerning the fate of Line 5 in an open forum based on facts, science, and law. We are ruled by law, not by self-serving agreements that were plotted to avoid it.
Given President Trump's executive orders this week to water-down or smooth over federal laws and regulations affecting water, the Great Lakes, and pipelines, it is more critical than ever that Governor Whitmer and Attorney General Nessel exercise the full jurisdiction and authority they and the State of Michigan under its exclusive power over use of the waters and bottomlands of the Great Lakes, its lakes and streams, public lands, and the public trust in the Great Lakes and navigable waters and public common property of Michigan. This trust imposes a duty on our leaders to protect the interests of citizens, the legal beneficiaries of this trust. Not the President, not Congress, not federal agencies, or state government can repeal, limit, or narrow the state's duties and citizens' individual and common rights under this public trust.
What Should Citizens Do?
It is quite simple: Citizens should do what they always do best. Continue to stay involved, increase communications to Governor Whitmer, Attorney General Nessel, and the Director of the DEQ, and the DNR. These communications should do the following:
Thank our state leaders for taking action on the unconstitutional Act 359 and the misguided oil tunnel agreement;
Urge our state leaders to take immediate steps to implement the actions outlined above to formally scrap the oil tunnel and shut down Line 5.
Tags: Dana Nessel, Enbridge Line 5, For Love of Water, Gretchen Whitmer, jim olson, Line 5, mackinac straits, Public Trust


text:
Jacob Bratcher
When Laura Murphy walked into a Middle Tennessee bridal shop one warm and sunny Saturday afternoon, she expected to experience one of the happiest days of her life.
"When a woman goes and picks out The Dress, that's one of the most joyful times you'll ever experience because it represents so many hopes and dreams becoming a reality," she remembered.
If you'd been sitting at Laura's kitchen table, as I was, listening to her recall that day five years ago, you would quickly assume that her subsequent wedding day was the capstone in a perfect storybook life; she's an addiction counselor for a local court-sponsored rehab program, a Sunday school teacher, and mother of two children both on the honor roll. For Laura, however, the day she picked out her wedding dress was one of the most difficult days of her life. It was the day she was jolted into confronting a past life she no longer recognized and related it to one of the greater controversies of our time.
"I was in the bridal shop with my mom and my future mother-in-law," she explained. "They kept bringing back all these gowns for me to try on, and it just so happened that the store attendant helping me was an African-American lady who was also named Laura. We hit it off so great. But when she said it was her job to go back with me in the fitting room and zip me up as I was trying on all these dresses, I realized I was going to have to show her the last thing in the world I ever wanted her or any other stranger to see: I would have to let her see the swastika that I'd gotten tattooed on my back, from years ago before I gave my life to the Lord."
In Laura's previous life, she was a convicted street drugs dealer and affiliated with white nationalist gangs. Her experiences and their context within our current national situation of heightened racial tensions gave her much to say. While our home state of Tennessee has in the past year seen a white supremacist rally of hundreds draw national headlines, Murphy was quick to point out that organized racism 'on the outside' of America's jail system, such as the Ku Klux Klan and League of the South, is not the primary perpetrators of active racism in the white community. The prison-to-white-nationalism pipeline is. Nobody with their freedom has any significant reason to endorse such racism but, in fact, could stand to lose a great deal. Thus, White Lives Matter protestors and similar groups are typically 'white trash' at the bottom of society with little or nothing to lose for their actions. For those sent to prison, however, the situation is reversed. Rather than racism being a stigma carrying hindrances to social belonging or advancement, it's a necessity for daily survival.
"Everybody," Laura said with a wide sweep of her hand, "who's sent to prison, especially for drug charges, has to associate with a whites-only gang as a matter of survival, or black or Latino gang depending on what their background is."
While she stopped short of saying that automatic prison sentences for lesser offenses such as marijuana possession, and the increasingly higher number of individuals within white southern society who have served time for such crimes, is largely to blame for intensified racial animosity, Murphy pointed out that the perceived rise of prejudice and the perceived rise in imprisonment for drug crimes have happened in tandem, and she is convinced that's no coincidence. Those who have served time will inevitably take the habits they learned with them into the wider world when they are released.
In her case, Laura recalled how the inherent low-trust society of prison culture and human fear of the unknown breeds segregation by skin color, on the assumption that the more outwardly similar to you another person is, the less likely they are to stab you in the back. Literally. Fitting in with every one of your racial group is a must for survival.
"All ex-prisoners come out with that permanent whites-with-whites, 'stick with your own kind' mentality. I called myself 'a proud white man's woman,' because the mindset was that if your own race can't trust you on the streets, nobody can," she said.
Racial grouping offers the immediate benefit to its individuals of strength by numbers. Once outside of prison, the continuing race-based referral system continues to sustain itself in an environment where avoiding snitches and law enforcement are critical to sustaining the network. When you're dealing drugs, you have to stick with what's known and trusted: those of other races represent too big of an unknown.
As someone with an ear much better tuned to racial tensions from personal experience, she stressed the presidential elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump have not themselves contributed to greater prejudice: they may be incidentally causal, but not directly.
"Any person with prejudiced attitudes will have a sense of empowerment and be emboldened when someone of their own ethnic group gets in office because they feel like now suddenly they have a greater ability to achieve their agenda," Murphy pointed out. "The black community was energized when Obama was elected, and now with Trump, it's possible that white groups feel empowered by default," projecting sinister aims onto the nation's leader.
Thus, she mentioned, the particularly noticeable rise of white high school-age youths identifying with groups like White Lives Matter might have been expected since some of that generation don't remember what it is like to have a white president in office, making white young adults, already seeking for identity, to overreact. In such a hyper-polarized era, there can be no neutral ground. A younger generation is susceptible to the deception that the only alternative to being anti-white is explicit pro-whiteness, particularly in the rural South where lack of educational resources and opportunities for socioeconomic advancement set the stage all too well for agitation against feelings of disenfranchisement.
If Laura Murphy could talk to those with similar hatred in their hearts as she had during her lawless days, she would say:
"The highest form of power is not white power, but in knowing God. It's not in a color or race, but the amount of love you have in your heart. Wanting to feel superior over others is empty because there will always be somebody else higher up than you. Hate's not powerful, but the ability to humble yourself and get along with others despite your differences…that takes more strength than hating somebody for unjust reasons. Look, we all go to the same place, we all die, and God is our final judge."
For this noted former felony drug dealer, the references to God were intentional and not just figures of speech. Murphy views the 21st century's decline of religion and resurgence of organized private racism as being linked. There is an urgent human need to belong, she said, and while Christians ideally belong to a church family, unbelievers might group up by race instead.
"I came to the place where skin color didn't matter to me anymore," Laura remembered. "And when the Lord changed my mind, I changed all the way. After I met Jesus, I realized that mindset could be pointed in the right direction. When I was in drugs and Aryan gangs, I was all the way in to defend and work with my group. If you want to be a good criminal, you're either all the way in or you're not in at all, and now I want my new life to be the same."
"I just want to go and love and help people with the same complete love and grace that God has shown to me."
Jacob Bratcher is a tenth-generation native Tennessean and first-generation college student, earning a Bachelor's in History (Cum Laude) in 2016 from Lipscomb University in Nashville. In his spare time, he enjoys following his favorite sports of horse racing and college football, studying American religious history, volunteering with Relay for Life, and reading any book not written by Ayn Rand or Karl Marx. The author works and resides near Murfreesboro, TN.
jacobbratcher
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Just got a new PC, and here the issue with doubleclicking a string only works in second attempt was identical. So this is a bug in evernote that occurs when you have a selection and doubleclicks on a word in a pdf in one of the notes fitting the selection criteria. First dobleclik and trying to copy: Selecion disappears. Second doubleclik and trying to copy: Selection stays. Is there a bug reporting thread somewhere? I couldn't find it.
Thanks Jefito. Yes, windows 10. I have configured the screen shot within Evernote to be activated with ctrl+shift+print screen, but it doesn't matter whether I use this or other combinations. The same happens regardless of clipping to a note directly or to the clipboard. In the very moment I presses this key combination the entire screen is being reduced in size. My PC is an ASUS UX490U with native Full-HD, but the graphics card can deliver Q-HD which I am using on my secondary monitor. Wonder whether this could be due to some kind of interference between the Asus screen and the Q-HD screen?
When pressing the short cut keys to take a screen shot I have noticed on my new PC that the pixel size is reduced, and also the resulting clip (making it almost unreadable). Anyone who knows what is controlling this behaviour?
Yes, this is really strange and annoying. In beta version 6.9.4.6614 this is still not working so afraid this is something they cannot do. The worst setback I have experienced in my 10 years with evernote!
Thanks for your help Cal! Seemingly this is an issue on my PC. Must try to reinstall to see if this helps. Regarding the selection of numbers by double-clicking, Adobe selects the entire number. It also works that way in Google Chrome (selcts entire number), but in Firefox it works like in evernote pdf's. Weird.
Could you please try to do this on a completely fresh pdf, ie a pdf you have not worked on / touched before? I observe this every time I try to copy from pdf's in my workflow. This has been so across various updates.
Thanks - that's correct. Sorry for posting in the incorrect forum. As not being a daily forum user, I find it difficult to orientate myself among the fora. Also have used some time - invane - to search for forums/threads related to beta versions.
Additionally I frequently observe that the ability to copy and paste ist completely lost. Only solution is to shut down Evernote and start over again. Quite tedious to do this 4-5 times pr. day.
This relates to both the latest beta and the current stable release: When selecting a string with the mouse, and the pressing ctrl+c to copy this string to the clipboard, it looses the selection and nothing is copied. Then you have to select the string again, and the second time it always work. So the first string you select in a given pdf does not work with ctrl+c. A lot of unneeded selecting and clicking Another issue that bothers me, is that when trying to doubleclick a number, for example 235,31, evernote only highlights the part of the number being clicked on., So either "235" or "31" will be highlighted. Maybe this is due to that evernote does not recognize a non-US number with reverse decimals? In my opinion Evernote should always see a number as one item to select.
Now that the new 6.8 has been implemented, I had sadly discovered that - despite several requests during the beta phase - it is still impossible to drag a pdf from EN and drop it into an email. This is really a productivity killer for me, and probably many others. In the 6.8 beta it was told that you could choose to view the pdf's as attachments and drag from here, meaning 1) Right click the pdf in question 2) Choose "Show as attachment" 3) Drag the pdf to an email 4) Deselect "Show as attachment", when/if the above worked This worked some time back in the beta time, but now no longer for me. Also I have noticed that - sometimes - the option to "Show as attachment" is not appearing when the pdf is 2 or more pages. This is really really bad. Could something be done about this?
Thanks Gazumped, Tried to un-install, but can't do that either due to missing evernote.msi. It is not in the C:\Users\<user>\Evernote\AutoUpdate either. I do not have any network drives attached, but the error message I get is this (translated into english): "The function you try to use is on a network ressource that is not available. Click on OK again, or write another path to a folder with the installation package 'evernote.msi' in the field below'. Tried to un-install both via Windows built-in un-installer and Revo - both gave an identical error message.
Now apparently version 6.8 is out of beta, and I was this morning presented with the download. I accepted and installation began. However, during the install the installer could not find the msi file - said it was on a non-existing network ressource or something like this. At the end some "Bootstrapper" error message. The old 6.7 is still there and working, but this is a bit odd I think. Anyone else experienced this?
Just wonder if anyone out there who's running Windows 10 insider preview (1709 build 17046.1000) and also use the /Debug function in Evernote (6.7.5.5825), have observed the same as me: Switching between accounts no longer works - Evernote freezes in the mode where the application looks like an image / screenshot. Seems as if you can only switch via the File menu, but as I have more than 50 accounts this is not practical for me. Maybe this could force me to go the EN-beta road, although there are still a lot of problems as far as I have read. This behaviour is new to me and observed for the first time after logging in just after updating to the newest W10 build.
The pdf viewer is asolutely working bad: - Very unrealiable selection of text when copying / pasting as mentioned in earlier thread - The bottom part of the page cannot be seen on screen - you have to open the pdf in its entirety via default pdf app - No possibility to drag and drop pdf's into for example gmail - A lot of space is lost due to the grey background. Why can't you expand to fit width?


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Brigantine Taxpayers Association
Welcome to the Brigantine Community School
October 2, 2019 October 2, 2019 / Leave a Comment
For years, as school enrollment dropped in the two local public schools (at one location, pre-k -8), we advocated such a sensible consolidation from two schools and administrations into one community school. It's now a reality – good news!
This is our third 2019 school article (salaries – 4/19, State test results – 5/19) and now this, an update and review of data. 30 % of Brigantine's property taxes support its public school. How efficiently has that revenue been spent to benefit students and taxpayers? See below, #2 and #3. The Boards of Education and of School Estimate must be fully, openly accountable to the public, do a better job of serving students and taxpayers, and acknowledge that this is a "community" school. And, the public must care.
1. The estimated enrollment pre-k through grade 8 for the start of this school year is 506 students, 65 in pre-k, 46 in kindergarten, and 395 in grades 1-8. At the beginning of 2019, there were 556 pupils in a building designed for over 1100 students.
2. Brigantine is one of NJ's 15 Type 1 school districts out of over 550 such districts. This means the mayor alone appoints the 7-member Board of Education. For years the people of Brigantine have been told by those in control that its quality of public education is excellent, great. To the contrary, annual State tests have revealed a continuing mediocre level of academic achievement. Based on the 2018 State test results in Math and English Language Literacy for each school, Brigantine's two schools met or exceeded State standards in only 1 of 4 categories, that of Elementary School Math.
3. Brigantine's school district has a pattern of high costs. For instance, in 2016-17, it had the highest Atlantic County public- school administrative costs. In 2017, Brigantine ranked fifth in the State for highest median teacher salaries. And, according to the Newark Star Ledger education reporter, Brigantine now ranks 16th in the State for the highest per- pupil costs. In our 2019 school budget, the per-pupil cost has increased to $26,493. THERE IS NO AUTOMATIC CORRELATION BETWEEN HIGH EXPENSES AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT.
The results of the spring 2019 State assessments (tests) have been distributed to local school boards. After a State-mandated time for local use, ending on 11/8/19, "scores can be released publicly on that date". We will keep you informed with the hope that Brigantine's district will show improvements and progress in educating all or more of its pupils to the extent of their abilities at a reasonable cost.
Paid for by the Brigantine Taxpayers Association
Thank You For State Audit of Brigantine
More Taxpayer Burden: Pension & HealthCare Costs for Public Employees
BTA continues support for consolidated county court.
Brigantine Beach and Dune Protection
Brigantine Taxpayers Association Supports Countywide Court System
George Laddey on Open Letter to Brigantine School Superintendent, Glenn Robbins.
resident on Brigantine Municipal Salary Chart 2020
Council Video
Copyright © 2023 Brigantine Taxpayers Association | Brigantine, NJ
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Hello, I'd like more information about the listing I found on Homes.com at 146 Riverbend Road.
This home is located at 146 Riverbend Road Bath, NH 03740 US and has been listed on Homes.com since 23 October 2018 and is currently priced at $449,000, approximately $139 per square foot. This property was built in 2006. 146 Riverbend Road is within the school district(s) Bath School District with nearby schools including Bath Village School.