WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Political "brinksmanship" in Michigan risks allowing Enbridge Inc. to abandon plans for a $500-million tunnel that would protect an ecologically sensitive Great Lakes waterway from the controversial Line 5 pipeline, business leaders warned Wednesday.
"The tunnel solution essentially eliminates the risk of an oil spill at the Straits of Mackinac," the chambers argue in their filing, known in legal parlance as an amicus brief. The brief anticipates a scenario in which Enbridge is forced to temporarily shut down the line, cancels the tunnel project and then later receives a ruling that allows the line to start back up.
Wednesday's deadline was expected to pass without incident; talks with a court-appointed mediator are scheduled to continue past May 18 and Enbridge has said it has no plans to accede to Michigan's order."This brinksmanship is political theatre," said Christopher Guith, senior vice-president, policy, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute.Richard Studley, the head of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, didn't mince words, either.
"It's really very troubling to the entire business community, to see a governor and attorney general abuse their power like this," Studley said. "The question it raises in the general business community is, 'Who's next?"'
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