LANSING — Michigan's new governor and attorney general are expected to try to undo state agreements with Enbridge to build a Line 5 oil pipeline tunnel, even if the current administration, as expected, pushes through the agreements before the end of the year.

Growing fears of a catastrophic oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac have resulted in widespread calls to shut down the 65-year-old Enbridge pipeline moving oil through the environmentally sensitive straits separating Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who leaves office Dec. 31, struck a tunnel agreement in October with the Canadian oil transport giant. Under the plan, the company would pay to build a $350-million tunnel beneath the straits that would encase a replacement pipeline to prevent a spill and allow the existing line to be decommissioned.

Snyder wants the tunnel overseen and owned by the Mackinac Bridge Authority — a move critics say is intended to bypass environmental approvals and accelerate required land condemnation.

Many groups condemn the tunnel plan as one that creates new environmental hazards and does nothing to reduce the risk of an oil spill during the seven to 10 years it would take to build the tunnel.

Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General-elect Dana Nessel — both Democrats who take office Jan. 1 —oppose the tunnel plan and have called for Line 5 to be decommissioned immediately.

They've called for revoking a state-issued easement that allows Line 5 to cross the straits as a way of decommissioning the pipeline.

Snyder's tunnel agreement with Enbridge complicates that plan because it calls for the easement and the pipeline to continue.

Whitmer met for about 30 minutes with Snyder on Wednesday to discuss transition issues and said she did not bring up the tunnel agreement. But she said in an interview on Michigan Radio's "Stateside" program Thursday that she remains opposed to its implementation and "my hands being tied."

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"I want to get that oil out of the Great Lakes," Whitmer said. 'As long as that tunnel is being built, seven to 10 years, the pipeline will still be going through the waters, and that's not acceptable."

She said she will be seeking legal advice and "I think we really have to get all the facts before we know what the next steps will be."

Senate Republicans introduced legislation Thursday that would expand the role of the Mackinac Bridge Authority beyond owning and operating a bridge to owning and operating a utility tunnel. Passage of that bill, Senate Bill 1197, is seen as one of three things that must happen before Dec. 31 for the tunnel agreement to take effect.

A second step is Snyder and Enbridge — who earlier signed other agreements related to the proposed tunnel —signing an agreement sent in draft form to the bridge authority Thursday that provides for authority oversight of tunnel construction, operation and maintenance.

The third step is the authority voting to assume the new role. All seven current bridge authority members are Snyder appointees, and in September, Snyder strengthened and extended his influence by appointing two close advisers — his cabinet director, Mike Zimmer, and his recently departed transportation director, Kirk Steudle — to six-year terms.

Snyder said in a Nov. 1 letter to the authority that the tunnel plan "would better connect the two peninsulas, provide energy reliability and virtually eliminate the risk of an oil spill."

But Liz Kirkwood, an attorney and executive director of the environmental group For Love of Water (FLOW), based in Traverse City, said the tunnel will do none of those three things and the public should be outraged that the bridge authority is being hijacked to benefit a Canadian company that primarily uses the line to move Canadian oil to Canadian markets.

"I know that Gov.-elect Whitmer and Attorney General-elect Nesselhave said that they will work to decommission Line 5," and "they are looking at and exploring the full range of options," Kirkwood said. "Litigation, of course, will be front and center."

But it's also possible the agreement could be countered without the new administration having to go to court —though any administrative actions could be challenged in court by Enbridge.

Kirkwood said that if it wants to build a tunnel, Enbridge needs to make an application under the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act. Such an application, which does not appear to be part of the current tunnel plan, would require approval by the incoming administration.

David Holtz, conservation chair of the Sierra Club's Michigan chapter, said he could also envision a scenario under which the Attorney General's Office determined all or part of the agreement was unconstitutional, allowing for the agreement to be terminated.

"When you do things in a hurry like this, you don't always pay attention to the rules," Holtz said.

Snyder told reporters Thursday that getting the tunnel agreements done by the end of the year is part of a timetable that was set in the spring and "I don't view it as just because there is an administration change."

Snyder said he and his officials have "been working in a diligent fashion with Enbridge and other parties ... about moving that project along, which I think is good for Michigan.”

A Nessel spokesman could not be reached Friday.

Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy, asked whether the company was concerned about the tunnel agreement being terminated by the incoming administration, said the company congratulates all those who participated in Tuesday's election.

"In Michigan and elsewhere, we look forward to continuing to work with elected officials and policymakers at the local, state and federal levels to ensure necessary investments in critical energy infrastructure will continue to drive economic growth and job creation — safely, reliably and efficiently," Duffy said in an email.

Staff writer Kathleen Gray contributed.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.