Enbridge pipes political money to Michigan Chamber's effort to fight ballot initiatives

Oil transport giant Enbridge, owner and operator of the controversial underwater Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, has also taken a deep plunge into Michigan politics.

The company is the largest bankroller in this election cycle of a Michigan Chamber of Commerce political action committee focused on ballot questions. And that PAC, in turn, has funded another Chamber PAC currently working to stop a proposed November ballot initiative that seeks to change how Michigan creates its political boundaries, a review of state campaign finance reports shows.

Both Enbridge and Chamber officials, however, say the amount and timing of Enbridge's contributions, and the Chamber PAC's subsequent efforts in opposition to the redistricting initiative, are unrelated.

"What the heck?" said David Holtz, communications coordinator for Oil and Water Don't Mix, a coalition opposed to Line 5's continued operation in the Straits, upon discovering Enbridge's political contributions.

Enbridge spokesman Michael Barnes denied Monday that the company has entered the redistricting fray.

“Enbridge does not have a position on the Michigan redistricting ballot initiative and further Enbridge has contributed no dollars toward any efforts to support or oppose this initiative," he said in an email to the Free Press.

Campaign finance records filed with the Michigan Secretary of State's Office show Enbridge made two contributions to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce PAC II last year, $125,000 on Oct. 9 and an earlier contribution of $1,650 on June 1. That October payment far exceeded any other contributor in the 2018 election cycle; the next-highest was Amway Corp.'s Stephen Van Andel's $50,000 contribution on April 3 of this year. Enbridge's $126,650 represents more than half of Chamber PAC II's total contributions from all sources so far, a total of $242,450.

Secretary of State records further show Chamber PAC II then made a $35,000 contribution to another Chamber-affiliated political action committee, Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution, on Oct. 12, three days after Enbridge's large contribution. The PAC is presently leading the opposition to the Voters Not Politicians group's efforts to place a redistricting initiative on the November ballot.

On Feb. 6 of this year, Chamber PAC II made another, $100,000 contribution to Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution.

Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution has filed challenges both with the Secretary of State and with the state Court of Appeals in an attempt to invalidate the redistricting ballot initiative.

The timing and amount of Enbridge's contributions, the shift of a similar amount of funds from Chamber PAC II to the Citizens PAC, and the Citizens PAC's subsequent legal and procedural challenge to the redistricting ballot initiative, are "unrelated," said Richard Studley, president and CEO of the Michigan Chamber. The Chamber PAC II had enough funds on-hand from a variety of contributors to make contributions to fighting redistricting "without a dollar of contribution from Enbridge," he said.

"Two-plus-two does not equal five," he said.

Both Michigan Chamber PAC II and Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution are ongoing, multipurpose ballot question committees, started in 2008 and 2012, respectively, Studley said. The committees have taken up the Chamber's position on a host of different ballot initiatives — the Citizens PAC last fall was actively opposing a proposed initiative to create a part-time legislature in Michigan, he said.

In an interview last October on the Steve Gruber Show on WJIM-AM radio in Lansing, Studley outlined the Chamber's opposition to ballot proposals that included one attempting to force the shutdown of Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.

"A sudden and arbitrary decision to shut down Line 5 would have a very negative impact on job creation and business success in Michigan," Studley said.

The Line 5 ballot initiative has since appeared to lose momentum, failing to gather sufficient signatures to move forward.

The Chamber's advocacy for Enbridge's Line 5 cause last year might help explain the company's subsequent financial support of the Chamber's political activities, Holtz said.

"The Chamber has come out and helped Enbridge on Line 5, and it's pretty obvious this is being done to help the Chamber," he said.

"Enbridge would presumably also benefit from a continuation of gerrymandering. It keeps the party in power that's helping Enbridge to keep Line 5 operating in the Straits."

Enbridge Inc. is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It made its political contributions to the Chamber PAC through its U.S. affiliate based in Houston, Enbridge Energy Partners L.P. Enbridge holds a 34.9% economic interest in the Houston-based affiliate, the corporation states on its website.

"We really shouldn't tolerate the Canadian oil industry meddling with our politics," Holtz said. "This is particularly troubling, given Enbridge's terrible environmental record in Michigan."

Studley, however, noted that Enbridge has more than 200 employees in Michigan, and is a large property owner and taxpayer in many areas of the state.

"The business community has the same right as environmental groups or unions to participate in the discussion about petition drives and ballot proposals," he said, adding that Enbridge and Chamber officials never discussed the redistricting measure.

More than 1.1 million gallons of oil spilled from a rupture in Enbridge's 30-inch transmission pipeline near Marshall beginning July 25, 2010. The spill devastated Talmadge Creek and surrounding wetlands and fouled about 38 miles of the Kalamazoo River.

Enbridge officials did not discover or address the ongoing oil spill for 17 hours. It was discovered only after being reported by a third party who came upon the spreading environmental disaster along Talmadge Creek.

Thinners in the thick, sludgy, diluted bitumen evaporated, causing significant amounts of the oil to sink to the bottom, clump with sediments and other materials and complicate the cleanup, which ultimately took four years and cost more than $1 billion.

The U.S. government fined Enbridge $61 million for the Marshall spill, and required $110 million in improvements to its pipeline system.

Enbridge agreed last week to pay an additional, $1.8-million penalty in a deal with the U.S. government, which accused the company of missing deadlines for inspecting pipelines to prevent leaks agreed to in the settlement over the Marshall spill.

Many have expressed concern that a similar pipeline disaster on Line 5, in the turbulent Straits of Mackinac, where lakes Michigan and Huron connect, would cause a widespread environmental and economic disaster.

Voters Not Politicians submitted more than 425,000 signatures, about 100,000 more than required, in an effort to place the redistricting reform measure on the statewide ballot this November. The proposal would take political district boundary-drawing away from the party in power and put it in the hands of a 13-person Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution asked the state Court of Appeals last month to stop state officials from approving the redistricting petition for the November ballot, arguing the proposal was too far-reaching and did not spell out its changes to the state constitution as required under law. That case is still pending.

Voters Not Politicians founder and director Katie Fahey expressed surprise at Enbridge's contributions to the Chamber PACs fighting her initiative.

"We know our system is rigged in favor of special interests," she said. "I have no idea what Enbridge's reasons are for contributing to this."

Fahey noted more than 10,000 individual contributions in support of the ballot initiative. "The people of the state really are funding this on our end," she said. "I think it's a really big contrast."

Michigan League of Conservation Voters Bob Allison, in a statement Monday, blasted Enbridge's donations to the Chamber PAC.



"It’s an outrage that the pipeline of money from Enbridge Energy continues to flow to protect Enbridge’s profits and Line 5, which should be shut down immediately," he said. "Enbridge Energy clearly wants to protect the status quo that has protected them for far too long.

"Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to influence Michigan’s political process, the oil company should shut down the 65-year-old Line 5 pipeline, which continues to imperil our state’s future and our Great Lakes."

The situation points out the difficulty citizens can have following political funding and how it is used, said Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization promoting transparency in the role of money in Michigan politics.

"This is one of the issues when it comes to tracking the money in ballot question fights, when you have a group that's being used to oppose or support multiple questions," he said. "It can be difficult to draw links between a group giving money and which proposal they are actually trying to influence."

Whether the redistricting initiative will be included on the statewide ballot this November has not yet been determined by the state Board of Canvassers.

Contact Keith Matheny: 313-222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny.