Enbridge has shut down temporarily its Line 5 pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
After discovering a damaged anchor support on one of the two lines carrying oil and natural gas downstate from the Upper Peninsula, the company took precautionary measures. The pipelines convey approximately 540,000 gallons of fuel per day. The same amount would require the equivalent of 2,000 trucks to transport.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel have repeatedly attempted, unsuccessfully, to scuttle a proposed tunnel beneath the Straits, which would house the pipelines 100 feet beneath the bedrock of the lake bottom. The estimated $500 million cost would be shouldered entirely by Enbridge.
Last week, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled against Nessel’s attempt to declare 2016 legislation passed by former Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican-led legislature to approve the tunnel unconstitutional.
In June 2019, Gov. Whitmer issued an executive order to shut down Line 5 in two years, despite Enbridge’s insistence it required five years to build the tunnel to replace it. Enbridge sued, and Nessel appealed after the company won its lawsuit.
As reported by The Center Square last August, several counties have passed resolutions supporting the tunnel, stating the pipeline provides tremendous economic benefits for Michigan residents and business owners in both Upper and Lower peninsulas.
On Friday evening, Whitmer made public a letter sent to Enbridge CEO Al Monaco, demanding the company provide “engineering reports, photographs, video, and other demonstrative evidence of the damage” no later than June 22.
“The information I have received about this incident leaves many unanswered questions as to the cause of this damage, the catastrophe that may have been narrowly avoided, and the threats that may remain as a result of the damaged infrastructure,” Whitmer said in a statement.
“That’s why I am requesting Enbridge turn over to the State of Michigan all relevant information about this most recent damage and provide affirmative evidence that establishes the integrity of the pipeline,” she added.
“I was deeply troubled to learn of this most recent disclosure by Enbridge of yet another incident involving Line 5, this time resulting in considerable damage to an anchor support on the pipeline,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
“Yet again, Enbridge has confirmed what we already know – Line 5 is a clear and present danger to our Great Lakes and to the millions of Michiganders who rely on those lakes for recreation, business and tourism,” she continued.
“We anxiously await the immediate production of information from Enbridge in response to Governor Whitmer’s request so that we can evaluate what, if any, additional action my Department may need to take. In any event, this underscores why we will continue to vigorously pursue our lawsuit seeking to shut down the Straits pipelines,” Nessel said.
In a conversation with The Center Square last year, Gary Wolfram, Hillsdale College William Simon professor of economics and public policy, noted Line 5 has been operational since 1953 without any incidents resulting in spillage in the Great Lakes.
“Moving it 100 feet under bedrock would be even safer,” Wolfram said. “The costs of eliminating [Line 5] … are far higher than any gains from closing the pipeline.”
