SB 1197 S-2: Authorizes the Mackinac Bridge Authority (MBA) to acquire, construct, operate, maintain, improve, repair, and manage a utility tunnel purportedly to host Enbridge Line 5

Senate Bill 1197 would amend Public Act 214 of 1952, the act that authorized the Mackinac Bridge Authority to build the Mackinac Bridge, to do all of the following:

• Allow the Mackinac Bridge Authority to acquire and manage a utility tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac and to acquire property and property rights in connection with the construction of such a tunnel.
• Create the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority within the Michigan Department of Transportation and create the Corridor Authority Board as its board of directors.
• Provide for the transfer, from the Mackinac Bridge Authority to the Corridor Authority Board, of all duties, powers, and responsibilities related to a Straits of Mackinac utility tunnel.
• Require the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority to enter into an agreement for the construction, maintenance, operation, and decommissioning of a utility tunnel by December 31, 2018.
• Require that the tunnel agreement provide that a private party pay to construct,maintain, operate, and decommission the tunnel.
• Provide that real or personal property owned or used by an entity leasing or otherwise using the utility tunnel is not exempt from taxation.
• Require the attorney general to provide for the costs of representation a lawyer chosen by the Mackinac Bridge Authority or the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority if the attorney general declined to represent either body in a matter related to the utility tunnel.