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Environmentalists call for release of Line 5 report tainted by conflicts

Flickr User: James Marvin Phelps / https://flic.kr/p/dadn74

Environmental groups are calling on the state to release a draft study of the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, despite the fact that it was tainted by a conflict of interest.

The group “Oil and Water Don’t Mix” said the state knew about conflicts of interest between Enbridge and the independant contractors tasked with studying the risks of the pipeline under the straits of Mackinac.

The state terminated the study the night before it was scheduled to be delivered to the project team.

 

David Holtz is with Oil and Water Don’t Mix.

 

“We have been raising conflicts of interest since last February with the state of Michigan. There are a number of vendors who are working on this study who have done work with Enbridge in the past. Virtually all of them come from the oil industry, the study that the state commissioned is being paid for by Enbridge.”

 

Holtz said the state waited too long to terminate the study.

 

“Yet the state waits until the eve of the release of these reports to disclose this conflict and act on it, and it raises questions. One thing we want the state to do is to immediately release the study so that the public can see just what the state has delayed releasing.”

 

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