Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
Originally published October 6, 2023; updated February 29, 2024; re-published on September 15, 2026 in memoriam of Skip Pruss By Skip Pruss, Flow Senior Advisor In what is among the most comprehensive clean energy initiatives in the country, Michigan has become the first industrialized swing state to enact laws requiring 100 percent of electric power… Read more »
WEBINAR REGISTRATION TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — In spite of being located in the heart of the Great Lakes, Michigan’s water infrastructure is aging and persistently underfunded, and too many Michiganders live without clean, safe drinking water. On September 21, Flow Water Advocates will present a special live webinar on new legislation to address these… Read more »
September 9, 2026 Traverse City, Mich. — Today, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her administration issued a consequential new statement on Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 pipeline tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac, telling the Canadian company that it’s time to pull back from its tunnel plan that will put the Great Lakes at risk for… Read more »
By Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director, Flow Water Advocates Michigan has lost one of its most valiant defenders and stewards. Stanley “Skip” Pruss, husband, father, grandfather, friend, environmental attorney, clean energy expert and champion, and a cherished member of the team here at Flow Water Advocates since 2013 as senior advisor and former board chair, has… Read more »
Every day, hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) flow across the Straits of Mackinac through two 20-inch pipelines that have proven vulnerable to anchors dropped by passing freighters and barges. There’s a broad consensus for the need to remove the aging pipelines and reduce the risk of a… Read more »
Fast-tracked under a January 2025 presidential executive order declaring a trumped-up “energy emergency,” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced its decision to approve the Canadian company Enbridge’s pipeline tunnel through Lake Michigan at the Straits of Mackinac. The proposed tunnel would house the Enbridge Line 5 pipelines, which terminate in Sarnia, Ontario, and… Read more »
WEBINAR: Deep Dive on Line 5 Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline and proposed tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac threaten the Great Lakes, while primarily serving Canada. In July, the Tribal and environmental coalition earned a significant victory when the Michigan Supreme Court vacated a required state permit for the tunnel project. Meanwhile, additional state and… Read more »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 31, 2026 Michigan Supreme Court upholds the public’s rights to the Great Lakes, orders new review of Line 5 tunnel. Traverse City, Mich., July 31, 2026 — The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Michigan regulators failed to properly weigh the Great Lakes’ public trust protections and environmental impacts before approving Enbridge… Read more »
Before heading into the early July summer recess, the Michigan Legislature approved a balanced, bipartisan budget for the upcoming 2027 fiscal year. When it comes to water policy, there aren’t many surprises. In many ways, this is a status quo budget — it avoids some of the deep environmental cuts that had been proposed earlier… Read more »
In a new piece, which originally appeared on his Substack, Flow senior policy advisor Dave Dempsey examines the state of federal environmental policy, and how we can break the cycle and move forward. Subscribe to Dave’s Substack US environmental policy needs its own FEMA. The wreckage wrought by the Trump administration is staggering. The shards of… Read more »
