FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 20, 2017
Media Contact: David Holtz 313-300-4454/david@davidholtz.org
In Wake of New Pipeline Concerns, Groups Call On Snyder,
Schuette to Begin Shutting Down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac
Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette must require Enbridge to shut off the flow of oil through Line 5 pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac following disclosures that the Canadian oil transport company’s pipeline has lost its protective coating, citizens groups said in a letter to the governor and attorney general that was released today.
The alarming disclosures, contained in a report filed by Enbridge in September with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, documents areas along the pipeline in the turbulent Straits where anticorrosion protective coating is missing. The report was submitted by Enbridge as part of a federal court order directing the company to investigate the impact of invasive mussels that have accumulated along the nearly 5-mile twin pipelines in the Straits.
“It’s shocking that Enbridge is going around the state claiming Line 5 is as good as new and will last forever while at the same time they know these pipelines are falling apart in the worst possible place for an oil spill,” said Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director of FLOW. “Gov. Snyder and Attorney General Schuette must initiate the process of shutting down these dangerous pipelines and should begin doing it today—before they rupture.”
In a letter sent Friday to Snyder and Schuette, the groups say failure to maintain protective anti-corrosion coating violates the state’s 1953 easement agreement allowing Enbridge to operate pipelines in the Straits. Enbridge has twice previously violated the agreement by failing to maintain required pipeline anchors.
“Research shared with you previously warned that pipeline corrosion had negatively impacted protective coating; the missing protective coating, corrosion, and the weight of invasive mussels and Enbridge’s decision to increase the volume of oil flowing through the Straits pipelines creates a substantial and unacceptable risk of failure,” the groups told Snyder and Schuette in their Friday letter. “The further admission and documentation from Enbridge that the protective pipeline coating is falling off and missing increases the likelihood of damaging corrosion and a pipeline rupture and the disastrous consequences that would follow. Under the terms of the easement, public trust duties, and the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act, as trustees you are required to act to prevent a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes.”
In a previous letter sent to to Attorney General Schuette in April 2016, the groups outlined the process for terminating the state’s easement with Enbridge based on several easement violations and subsequently met with Schuette’s senior staff to discuss the process. Thus far, however, there has been no action taken to begin decommissioning Line 5. Instead the state has commissioned a study of alternatives to Line 5, with the results expected to be released in June.
“This latest revelation is yet another a wakeup call for the state,” said David Holtz, Chair of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Executive Committee. “The question is whether the state will continue to hit the snooze alarm or rise up to the threat from aging oil pipelines in the Great Lakes.”
Research conducted by organizations supporting the decommissioning of Line 5 has shown that pipeline corrosion and structural integrity questions point to an urgent need for the state to act.
“We’ve always known that this 64-year-old pipeline was constructed only to last just 50 years. Now we’re seeing the disastrous effects of placing big oil and gas interests before public health,” said Food & Water Watch Michigan Organizer Mariah Urueta. “If Gov. Snyder and Attorney General Schuette continue to side with Enbridge and refuse to shut down Line 5, Michigan’s water, communities and way of life are in dire jeopardy. Line 5 is no longer a pipeline -it’s a ticking time bomb that will destroy our resources if we don’t defuse it and shut down Line 5 today.”
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Enbridge report: http://bit.ly/enbridge-biota-report
Letter to Snyder & Schuette: http://bit.ly/snyder-schuette-letter
