South Haven, Michigan – Lake Michigan by Mic Stolz

Web of Pipelines Put Wildlife, Communities at Risk

Despite major issues with pipeline safety regulations and safety regulators telling Enbridge their pipelines are not safe, Enbridge has been allowed to max out pipelines running in, around and through the Great Lakes, so they can increase profit and eventually feed international markets with tar sands. Some of the pipelines being pushed to their limits are 60 years old and run under the Great Lakes for miles!

New and existing tar sands pipelines threaten the Great Lakes. These Lakes are the economic backbone for surrounding states and the freshwater drinking source for millions.

However, Enbridge has finally hit a roadblock that requires public input for one of their lines crossing the U.S. and Canada border – known as Alberta Clipper or Line 67. Enbridge is required to obtain a presidential permit because they plan to greatly increase the amount of tar sands being imported. This permit opens up a door for public comment, which finally gives concerned citizens opportunity to have a voice and to become involved.

Stop Reckless Tar Sands Pipeline Expansion

Now is the time to stand up against these plans and tell the State Department that you strongly oppose Enbridge being allowed to expand their pipelines, which will bring the Great Lakes larger spills and more pollution from refining!

It is critical that we tell the State Department that we value our resources and communities over oil profits. The increased import of tar sands crude is not to benefit the Midwest or the U.S. – Enbridge has already started to pump tar sands south for export and has plans to do the same out east. This means that we are assuming an increased risk of much larger spills, pollution from refining and aiding in the development in Canada’s tar sands region – one of the biggest threats to our global climate.

Straits of Mackinac and location of Enbridge Line 5 – a 60 year old tar sands pipeline running below the surface of the water for almost 5 miles.

Tell the U.S. State Department you value the safety of wildlife, our resources and our communities over oil profits!

In 2008, when they thought no one was watching, oil companies Enbridge and the Portland Montreal Pipeline Company hatched a plan to reverse the flow of two existing pipelines to send dirty tar sands crude through Ontario, Quebec, and into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine for refining along the East Coast and Gulf Coast and export abroad. The plan would have exposed American treasures to the risks of a tar sands oil spill. These include Sebago Lake, which supplies Portland, Maine with its drinking water; the Connecticut River, New England’s largest; the Misissiquoi River, historically valuable to tribes and tributary of Lake Champlain; and other critical resources. It also would have provided another fuse to set off the tar sands carbon bomb by giving this land-locked resource access to markets abroad and in the U.S.

To learn more about the threat of tar sands to New England, see this fact sheet.

In 2009 the plan was shelved due to the poor economy. Now it’s back. And Big Oil won’t tell you about it.

That’s because Canada’s dirty secret has gotten out. Tar sands are an environmental disaster. As James Hansen put it, tar sands are a climate bomb that would add 120 parts per million of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, enough to catapult us past a host of dangerous climate tipping points. Tar sands development is also turning North America’s bird nursery into a toxic waste zone, leading to the decline of caribou in Alberta, and responsible for a tragic and misguided plan to kill thousands of wolves to “protect” caribou instead of forcing Big Oil to stop destroying caribou habitat.

And then there is the risk of spills. When Line 6B ruptured in Michigan in July of 2010, 1.2 million gallons of oil–enough oil to cover over three acres of land with a foot of oil–spilled into the Kalamazoo River. The cost of clean-up has been 18 times per liter as that of already expensive conventional oil spills, while sticky tar sands still coats portions of the river’s bottom and the spill has left many residents sick.

Now that they are being watched, Big Oil wants to hide the ball. But their plans to bring tar sands to New England are becoming increasingly clear.

First, in summer of 2011, Enbridge announced plans to partially reverse the flow of Line 9, the first of the two pipelines in the original “Trailbreaker” proposal. Last week, before Canadian hearings on the partial reversal have even occurred, Enbridge announced a plan to fully reverse the flow of the Line 9 pipeline all the way to Montreal. And Enbridge finally conceded that diluted bitumen (the especially corrosive form of tar sands) was slated to be transported through Line 9. Assuming Canadian officials increasingly beholden to Big Oil will rubberstamp these plans, Enbridge is now one step away–reserving the flow of the Portland-Montreal pipeline–from bringing tar sands to New England.

New England can’t afford to have Big Oil’s attempt to sneak tar sands through the region succeed. In July, New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Provincial Premiers are meeting in Burlington, Vermont. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin is hosting. Governor Shumlin has been a true leader on energy issues and climate. He also understands that the Connecticut River cannot become the next Kalamazoo.

In a recent meeting preparing for the July event, Governor Shumlin said,

“I don’t think that we’ve dug deep enough in terms of really having a plan that’s going to enrich us all and make New England and the Northeast provinces the place where we get energy right. We have that opportunity; the planning for that opportunity is in your hands.”

The meeting will focus on a climate change plan endorsed by the Governors and Premiers to reduce greenhouse gases by 10 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020.

Getting energy right, protecting New England from an environmental calamity like the Kalamazoo spill, and reducing carbon pollution means keeping New England tar sands free and denying tar sands’ companies the market access they crave. At the July meeting, the Governors and Premiers need to discuss the threat of tar sands to New England and set a goal of keeping New England tar sands free.

Governor Shumlin is right, New England has an opportunity to get energy policy right, and that opportunity is in our hands. Big Oil wants to snake tar sands into the Northeast. They are hoping we won’t notice. We can’t afford to let that happen.

Click here to help protect Northeastern wildlife from dirty tar sands oil.

Environmentalists are relieved to hear that the Obama administration has delayed the decision regarding the Keystone XL pipeline.

But most Americans probably do not know that pipelines already criss-cross our neighborhoods and countryside.

For Susan Connolly of Michigan, pipelines were not a concern before July 26, 2010. That was the day a pipeline burst near her town, spilling oil in the Kalamazoo River.

Here she re-counts what it was like that day and how the river looks today. Thank you to Michelle Barlond Smith for sharing her photos.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first night, my son was throwing up. Within a few days, my daughter had a strange rash on her body. A lot of the kids had headaches. There were nose bleeds, migraines, sore throat. Since the kids were younger, it hit them fast…

You could see the oil-covered geese, the deer. People were pulling muskrat, turtles. Another response that they did other than just capture the animals, for weeks you could hear guns being fired, just killing all the deer because they couldn’t rehabilitate them. So you heard that for weeks, day and night…

The entire Kalamazoo River, the whole 40 mile stretch, still needs moderate to heavy work done still. There’s a no contact order that you can’t go anywhere near the river.

Hear more of Susan’s story, such as why she speaks up for those affected by the spill, in an upcoming blog.

Support National Wildlife Federation’s work on to stop dirty fuels and the Keystone XL pipeline at our Choose Your Cause website.

As we saw in Utah over the weekend, pipelines can and do burst with disastrous results for nature and property.  20,000 gallons leaked, heading to lakes and streams, oiling birds and damaging water supplies and land. NWF is working to stop construction of a massive 2,000 pipeline that would bring those risks to 6 heartland states.  Watch Larry talk about the dangers of Dirty Fuels, learn more, and take action to stop the risky Keystone XL pipeline.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s Larry’s tour stops this morning:

WGCL-TV / Atlanta / CBS / 8

WJBK-TV / Detroit / FOX / 11

WMYA-TV / Greenville / MNT / 36

WHSV-TV / Harrisonburg / ABC / 178

WFXT-TV / Boston / FOX / 7

KMID-TV / Odessa / ABC / 155

WFTL-AM / Miami / Radio / 17

WECI-TV / Missoula / NBC / 166

WISN-TV / Milwaukee / ABC / 35

WDPN-AM / Cleveland / Radio / 18

KMSP-TV / Minneapolis / FOX / 15

WLKF-AM / Tampa / Radio / 14

KNXV-TV / Phoenix / ABC / 12

WDJQ-FM / Cleveland / Radio / 18

WYAM-TV / Huntsville / IND / 81

XETV-TV / San Diego / CW / 28

WCHS & WVAH-TV / Charleston / ABC & FOX / 63

KJTV-TV / Lubbock / FOX / 143

The Art of the Interview / National / Radio

KCTU-TV / Wichita / IND / 69

KMIR-TV / Palm Springs / NBC / 142

WCAP-AM / Boston / Radio / 7

WLOX-TV / Biloxi / ABC / 163

KKZN-AM / Denver / Radio / 16

KSAZ-TV / Phoenix / FOX / 12