Activists: Plug Straits of Mackinac Pipeline Before Catastrophe

Some believe a catastrophic oil spill is imminent if Canada-based Enbridge Energy doesn’t immediately close the Line 5 pipelines running under the Straits of Mackinac. Photo via Flickr)

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Environmentalists and scientists Wednesday called on Canadian Energy giant Enbridge to immediately close its aging pipelines running under the Straits of Mackinac before an environmental catastrophe occurs.

The protestors with the FLOW (For the Love of Water) group included Gary Street, a former engineering director for a Dow Chemical subsidiary, who said the twin pipelines of Line 5 are a “disaster just waiting to happen,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

At a news conference on Mackinac Island, the group released a report containing dire warnings that a spill is “imminent” due to corrosion of the 62-year-old Line 5, which moves an estimated 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids through the Straits each day.

Street, one of the authors of the report, said corrosion is a result of the effect of acidic waste of invasive zebra mussels – which weren’t even in the Great Lakes when the pipeline was installed – and Enbridge’s own failure to properly anchor the pipelines to the sandy bottom of the lake.

In a statement, FLOW executive director Liz Kirkwood said the scientific findings make clear that “Line 5 should be shut down and an open, public process immediately begun to consider the best way to avoid a catastrophic oil spill into the Great Lakes, home to 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water.”

Enbridge spokesman Jason Manshum said in an email to the Free Press that the company hadn’t yet received the report, but would carefully review it. He declined the opportunity to comment on the long-term integrity of the line, but said Enbridge will continue to work with state and federal regulatory agencies to ensure the safe operation of Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac.

Related:

• Enbridge on Notice to Reinforce Pipelines to Avoid Great Lakes Catastrophe
• Coast Guard’s Alarming Warning on Great Lakes Oil Spill
• ‘Pinhole-Sized’ Pipeline Lake Heightens Great Lakes Fears

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Hills, added his voice to those who want safety assurances about Line 5.

A 2010 Enbridge spill on a Kalamazoo River tributary was an unprecedented disaster, Peters told The Lansing News/MLive.com, but might pale in comparison to the catastrophic result of a pipeline break in the Great Lakes, “and certainly here in the Straits of Mackinac.”

Peters said he looks forward to a thorough review of the report, as well as the opportunity to ask tough questions about condition of Line 5 under the Straits.

State Legislature Wants to Keep Pipeline Details Secret

Ironically, a state legislator wants to keep that information secret.

State Rep.Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth, wants to exempt informaton about pipelines from public disclosure in House Bill 4540, a proposal that Enbridge supports. The company recently reached a $75 million settlement with the state for the $1 billion cleanup of a 2010 spill of about 1 million gallons of oil in a Kalamazoo River tributary.

Heise’s bill has been sharply criticized by environmentalists, who want access to more information,. But Heise said guarding information about the exact location of underground utilities and related equipment is an important counter-terrorism measure.

The legislation is moving forward as Attorney General Bill Schuette and Department of Environmental Quality director Don Wyant steer the Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task Force, whose exhaustive review of pipeline safety is the basis of yet-to-come recommendations to protect the ecology and the economy of the Great Lakes.

When a pin-hole sized leak was detected in one of the Line 5 pipelines in December, Schuette and Wyant said in a joint statement that the discovery underscored both environmentalists’ fears and the urgency of the task force’s work.