Central Michigan may well need an improved infrastructure to deliver gasoline products to the region. But Wolverine Pipe Line Co. and state officials are going about planning a new pipeline through Lansing in the wrong way.

Municipalities need to have a say when there is a matter on the table that will have a lasting impact on the community. And in Wolverine Pipe Line’s case, it doesn’t have the need or the right to muscle its pipe through Lansing’s ground.

The Lansing City Council and Mayor David Hollister have opposed plans for the pipeline, proposed to run along Interstate 96 through the capital city. And after one of the company’s pipelines ruptured in June 2000, contaminating 1 square mile of Jackson County’s Blackman Township, city leaders and area residents have reason to be concerned. That leak forced more than 1,000 residents from their homes for several days.

Company officials say the new pipeline has numerous safety precautions that the line in Jackson County didn’t have. But despite these precautions, a plan to run Wolverine’s new pipeline along an existing, smaller pipeline through affluent Meridian Township was turned down.

We’re curious, then, why township residents were able to get away with a “not-in-my-backyard” attitude about the pipeline, while often-poorer Lansing residents may get it shoved down their throats.

Nobody wants the eyesore digging and construction, or any of the possible problems associated with the pipeline, but everyone wants to benefit from the lower gas prices company officials promise with the project.

Many stand to gain from such a project in Mid-Michigan, as long as it goes forward with preperation. Unfortunately, it seems Lansing’s leaders feel out of the loop of decision-making, state officials don’t seem to care about the city’s concerns, and company officials are focused only on getting the project approved by any means necessary.

What all three parties need to realize is that the city deserves a spot at the discussion table as plans are proposed for a project that has the possibility - even if it’s remote - of damaging the environment.

It may take a little more time and money to deal with this issue properly and exhaust all possible alternatives, but in the end Lansing needs to maintain a level of authority over its city limits.