Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
by Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director For fourteen years, Flow Water Advocates has stood on a simple, powerful truth: The waters of the Great Lakes belong to everyone—and must be protected for all time. Not just for this generation. Not just for human use. But for the entire living water cycle that sustains our region, our… Read more »
By Liz Kirkwood, Flow Executive Director This piece originally appeared in Bridge Michigan. Michigan’s abundant water has turned into a cash cow for private bottled water companies. They’re making large profits off publicly owned water, while paying next to nothing to the state for water extraction. At the same time, low- and middle-income families often… Read more »
DOWNLOAD: Flow Water Advocates, Sierra Club, and Surfrider Foundation comments on Line 5 Tunnel Project Supplemental Draft EIS on the HDD Installation Alternative Traverse City, Mich. — On December 5, Flow Water Advocates (Flow), a Great Lakes water protection organization, in partnership with the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation (known collectively as the Water Coalition),… Read more »
Wetland protection advocates across America recoiled earlier this month when the Trump Administration proposed opening up millions of acres of wetlands to be filled or drained and developed. Michigan will fare somewhat better because of a 1980 state law that shields many wetlands that the U.S. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are proposing… Read more »
Why we oppose House Bill 4385: A threat to Michigan’s shorelines, the Public Trust, and the Great Lakes. House Bill 4385, currently being considered in the Michigan Legislature, would weaken critical protections for the shorelines of the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair. Although the bill is framed as a support for property owners to… Read more »
Updated December 19, 2025 Five years ago, on November 13, 2020, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Department of Natural Resources revoked and terminated the 1953 easement that had allowed Enbridge to locate and operate its dual Line 5 pipelines on the lakebed and in the waters of the Straits of Mackinac. As public trustee… Read more »
November 17, 2025 [ DOWNLOAD: Flow Water Advocates Brief on Appeal (PDF) ] Traverse City, Mich. — Flow Water Advocates (“Flow”) has filed a brief in its appeal of the Michigan Public Service Commission’s decision to approve a permit for Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac. Flow’s appeal will… Read more »
As Flow Water Advocates’ inaugural Denis and Martha Pierce Environmental Law Fellow, Hope McLellan-Brandt supports Flow’s legal work to defend the Great Lakes. She graduated from Vermont Law School in 2024 with a Juris Doctor and a Master’s in Environmental Law and Policy. While in law school, Hope gained extensive experience in international environmental law,… Read more »
Published May 24, 2024; updated November 7, 2025 Do you enjoy celebrating the holidays with your friends and family? How about checking items off your bucket list, or watching the Super Bowl? Are cookies, chips, and pizza some of your guilty pleasures? Believe it or not, you can thank your friendly neighborhood pipeline company for… Read more »
Established in 1978, the Michigan Coastal Management Program (MCMP) provides technical assistance and strategic grant funding to assist in coastal communities’ ability to understand risks, and options to mitigate coastal hazards; create healthy habitats that provide for human use and enjoyment; support coastal eco-tourism opportunities while ensuring for safe public access; and support resilient and… Read more »
