The Mackinac Bridge Authority owning a new oil pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac that's built by, then leased back to, Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge? That's news to bridge authority members.
Three members of the seven-member Mackinac Bridge Authority board contacted by the Free Press on Friday said they had no involvement with, or input into, the plan announced by Gov. Rick Snyder's administration and Enbridge on Wednesday.
"I've been on the authority for 21-plus years. I've been the chairman for 17," said William Gnodtke of Charlevoix. "This is the first I've heard of the Mackinac Bridge being the ultimate owner of a tunnel.
"I don't know how long this (discussion) has been going on. I know I haven't been a participant."
Gnodtke said he'd also heard from authority board vice chairman Barbara Brown of St. Ignace that she, too, was not involved in any meetings or asked about the state's and Enbridge's Straits tunnel plan. Free Press attempts to contact Brown on Friday were unsuccessful.
Gnodtke is finishing his final term on the board at the end of this month.
The Mackinac Bridge Authority, an independent state agency created by law as the bridge was planned in 1950, has been successful long term because of its very focused mission, Gnodtke said: operate and maintain the Mackinac Bridge and raise the appropriate bridge fares to do so. He worries that adding tunnel responsibilities, and a long-term relationship with Enbridge and its oil pipeline operation, amounts to "mission-creep."
"If our role is being expanded, it would appear to me that somebody, somewhere, should have talked to the members of the Mackinac Bridge Authority," he said.
At a meeting in Detroit with state officials just before Labor Day, five of the seven bridge authority members were on hand, as well as legal counsel, Gnodtke said.
"No one said a word to any of us about it at that meeting," he said.
"How long has this been going on, and who's been involved in it, especially from the authority side of it?"
Bridge authority board member Matthew McLogan said he received "some information" from state officials regarding the tunnel plan earlier this week, before its public announcement Wednesday. He had no involvement in devising the plan, he said.
Making sure any associated costs are handled by Enbridge and do not fall to Michigan taxpayers or Mackinac Bridge users is "essential," McLogan said.
"I'm interested in seeing the detail on the agreement, and learning more about how the" Michigan Departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality "have reviewed it," he said. "Environmental matters are, of course, key. The safety of the bridge is key."
Bridge authority member Patrick Gleason said Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudel spoke briefly to him about the tunnel plan "just prior to it being public knowledge." Steudel, as MDOT director, is, by statute, a member of the bridge authority board. Steudel is resigning his post at the end of October and will then take over Gnodtke's civilian seat on the board.
Gleason said the aging, existing Line 5 continuing to operate on the lake bottom for years to come, as a tunnel concept is developed, is among his major concerns.
A "clear separation" between operations of the bridge and any utility corridor tunnel under the Straits used by Enbridge is a must, Gleason added.
"We take a lot of time and effort to make sure that bridge is the safest structure in the state — in the world, really," he said. "We can't be commingling the liabilities, the assets, things of that nature."
DNR Director Keith Creagh, cochair of Snyder's Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, told the Free Press it was initially essential to negotiate with Enbridge officials, to see whether an agreement was possible. The state and Enbridge have been meeting "at the technical staff level" since, looking at the feasibility of concepts and technology that would be involved, he said.
"It would have been inappropriate to contact (bridge authority board) members en masse" during that part of the process, Creagh said.
The idea all along was to provide the Mackinac Bridge Authority with a full outline of the plan and how it's envisioned they would fit into it, and to then hear from authority board members, he said.
"The Mackinac Bridge Authority is a well-respected bipartisan commission that has done a great job on the Mackinac Bridge," Creagh said. "They're local, they're in the area. The whole pipeline in the Straits certainly falls within their area of interest."
Enbridge says its Pipeline 5 -carries millions of gallons of oil and natural gas each day under the Mackinac Straits.This photo filmed last summer shows a diver inspecting the 62-year-old pipleline. (Photo: Enbridge)
Creagh said "many" of the authority board members were individually approached about the state's and Enbridge's plan, specifically naming Steudel.
"If the chairman (Gnodtke) was not approached, and he was caught blindsided, that was certainly an oversight, and I apologize for it," Creagh said.
He did not express concern over the potential for mission-creep with the bridge authority, or the authority's long-standing attachment to an iconic piece of Michigan held in high regard, the Mackinac Bridge, being expanded to include a long-term affiliation with a company held in far less regard in many circles.
"(The authority) have been laser-focused on the bridge, on the tolls on the bridge and the maintenance," Creagh said. "Does this add to their responsibility? The answer is yes, it would. Would it be outside of their scope of expertise? I think it would be within the scope of their authority."
The bridge authority board next meets Nov. 8, when state officials will present a report on the tunnel plan, Creagh said.
"Just based upon conversations, there would then be a public (comment) process after that," he said.
The timeline is compressed, with Snyder's desire that the plan be in place before he leaves office at the end of December.
"By the end of the year, there will not be a final design of, 'Here it is, go build it,' " Creagh said.
"It will hopefully be an agreement on a path in place, a way forward, that will develop the ability to develop a tunnel in the Straits. It would be a commitment on, 'Here's the design, here's the build stage, here are the milestones, here are the decision points.' "
Significant work remains on tunnel ownership and how it would be transferred, Creagh said.
"Enbridge has committed to long-term maintenance, but how do you assure that that actually happens?" he said.
"Everyone shares the same outcome of getting Line 5 out of the water of the Straits, and deactivating those twin lines. As of what we know today, the integrity is still there. But as we know, nothing lasts forever."
Contact Keith Matheny: 313-222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny.
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