A new group that advocates for oil and energy pipelines is criticizing a video game that promotes attacks on oil pipelines and was developed by a Michigan State University professor and foe of a controversial local pipeline.

Energy Builders, a new pipeline advocacy group, said that the school’s new video game, “Thunderstruck,” amounts to advocacy for destruction of energy pipelines.

The group issued a statement that said it was done by the taxpayer supported college. But after we reported on it, it amended that to say the game was not developed by the school’s gaming department.

The developer and assistant professor Elizabeth LaPensee also told us, “The game Thunderbird Strike is affiliated with MSU and the Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab because I am a professor at MSU, but no resources or technology from the university were used, and therefore taxpayer funds via MSU did not contribute to the development of Thunderbird Strike.”

A report in OilPrice.com quoted LaPensee hoping that the game draws attention to the controversial Enbridge’s Line 5 spans that links Wisconsin, Michigan and Canada.

It is the final target in the game.

OilPrice.com said: Her greatest hope for Thunderbird Strike ‘is that it will bring awareness to pipeline issues and contribute to the discontinuation of [Enbridge’s] Line 5,” Lapensee told oilprice.com in an interview on Thursday, adding that she was “merely existing and sharing the concerns of my community.”

Energy Builders, was recently launched to track and publicize the incidents of criminal activity against energy infrastructure and their employees

Editor's note: This story was updated Thursday evening to make clear that taxpayer funds were not used to develop the video game.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com