Environmental activists campaigning against Enbridge’s Line 5 are calling on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to “be an advocate” for a shutdown, as she promised when running for office in 2018.

At the time, “Whitmer pledged to do everything in her power to take Line 5 out of the Great Lakes” but has since drifted to the background, Sean McBrearty, activist with Oil and Water Don’t Mix and Clean Water Action, told Great Lakes Now.

While McBrearty credits Whitmer with ordering Enbridge to shut down the pipeline that transports 22 million gallons of oil and liquid natural gas through the Straits of Mackinac every day, she’s since largely left the issue to Attorney General Dana Nessel, he said.

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McBrearty believes the governor can and should do more to leverage her relationship with President Joe Biden to move quickly to shut down the pipeline, noting Whitmer – Biden’s presidential campaign co-chair – worked closely with former Michigan governor turned energy secretary Jennifer Granholm to restart the aged Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert.

“It would be a wonderful thing for the people of Michigan and this campaign,” he said.

Exactly why Waffling Whitmer’s attention has drifted from her promises to shut down Line 5 is unclear, but financial disclosures required by Proposal 1 show she has a personal financial stake in the fossil fuel industry.

The disclosures for the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general and state lawmakers stem from the ballot initiative approved by 66% of voters in 2022. Monday marked the first deadline for those disclosures.

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While Whitmer declined to voluntarily reveal her $159,000 annual salary, she did report $50,237 in unearned income, including $18,432 in stock dividends, $17,672 in qualified dividends, and $10,657 in tax-exempt interest.

In total, Whitmer reported securities and investments for seven 401k tax-deferred investment accounts and four ETF/Index/Mutual Fund accounts worth about $2.5 million, up about a half-million from the $2 million in investments she reported in 2022.

More than $1 million of that money – her largest account – is invested in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral, known as VTSAX, which is up more than 26% since 2022. The index fund consists of 3,717 stocks, with billions invested in Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp., and ConocoPhillips.

Those investments seemingly conflict with legislation Whitmer signed into law in November that push the state to meet a 100% “clean energy” standard by 2040. The legislation calls for Michigan to produce half of its energy from renewable sources by the end of the decade, and 60% by 2035.

The investments also call into question billions in taxpayer-funded incentives the Whitmer administration has distributed to the electric vehicle industry in recent years. The incentive packages steer $236.6 million in taxpayer money to a Next Energy battery gigafactory in Novi, $800 million to a CCP Gotion battery parts plant near Big Rapids, and $1.7 billion to Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park in southwest Michigan, MLive reports.

“Michigan’s clean energy future is bright,” Whitmer said in November. “I am proud that these bills make Michigan the best state in the Midwest for climate action and the strongest state in the nation when it comes to labor standards for clean energy production. Together, we are fighting for our air, land, and water, improving public health and protecting our precious natural resources for future generations. We are building the future in Michigan.”

In the meantime, Whitmer has her money on Big Oil.