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Why the Line 5 Oil Pipeline Threatens the Great Lakes
Endangered piping plovers nest along the Great Lakes shorelines which would be impacted by a Line 5 oil spill. Photo by Vince Cavalieri, USFWS
An aging oil pipeline moves 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids per day along the bottomlands of the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron crash into each other in the heart of the Great Lakes.
This pipeline – Line 5, built in 1953 – is operated by the same company responsible for one of the largest inland oil spills in North American history: Enbridge. During that pipeline rupture, previously known cracks formed into a 6 foot gash which spilled over 840,000 gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River in 2010.
What’s Wrong with the Pipeline?
There are numerous places along the underwater section of the pipeline where protective coating is missing, and for much of the history of the pipeline, sections of pipe were not properly supported on the Lake Michigan lakebed – where it gets pummeled by oscillating currents. In fact, those supports were not replaced until video from a National Wildlife Federation dive inspection revealed they were lacking. Recently, Enbridge itself confirmed that part of its outer protection coating was missing from sections of the pipeline, and revealed in October 2017 that it has known about missing sections of coating since 2014 but failed to report the easement violation to state officals.
An April 2017 National Wildlife Federation report revealed that the land-based sections of Line 5 have leaked at least 29 times since 1968, spilling over 1 million gallons of oil. We cannot risk a spill in the Straits, which a 2016 University of Michigan study estimates could put up to 700 miles of shoreline at risk depending on current and weather conditions, with up to 150 miles impacted in any one spill, risking a 17,000-square mile spill zone.
Additionally, the pipeline has been operating without an adequate spill response plan, as required by the Clean Water Act. Due to this, the National Wildlife Federation sued the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in January 2017, challenging this illegal operation of the pipeline.
What’s at Stake?
At risk are the fish and wildlife of the Great Lakes, the drinking water relied upon by citizens, and the region’s recreation and tourism economy which supports the northern Michigan way of life. So it should be no surprise that two-thirds of Michiganders oppose the continued operation of the pipeline under the Straits, as reported by a 2016 EPIC-MRA poll commissioned by NWF.
Of particular note is the threat to the endangered piping plover shorebird. Piping plovers nest in the summer along the sandy beaches of the Great Lakes, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated critical habitat for piping plovers which falls within the spill zone risk identified by the University of Michigan.
What’s Being Done About It?
(Updated July, 2019) Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has taken legal action to shut down Line 5. In two separate legal filings, Attorney General Nessel is suing Enbridge in circuit court to shut down Line 5 as soon as possible because of the danger Line 5 poses to the Great Lakes, as well as seeking to dismiss the suit Enbridge filed against the state earlier this month in the court of claims. In the court of claims action, the Attorney General is defending her opinion striking down as unconstitutional the back-room deal that Enbridge struck with outgoing former Gov. Rick Snyder and the state legislature to force the state to support an oil tunnel. The National Wildlife Federation strongly supports the action to protect Michigan’s citizens, businesses and communities from another catastrophic oil spill.
“The bottom line is that communities can’t afford another oil spill disaster from Enbridge,” said Beth Wallace, Great Lakes partnerships manager with the National Wildlife Federation. “We applaud Attorney General Dana Nessel’s legal action to decommission this risky pipeline to protect our Great Lakes, jobs, fish and wildlife, and way of life. The National Wildlife Federation will employ every option to fully support the attorney general in her efforts to remove this risky oil pipeline from the heart of the Great Lakes.”
In addition, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the Department of Natural Resources to review violations of the Line 5 easement through the Straits of Mackinac. The governor has the authority to revoke the easement to start decommissioning.
Ask Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to act now to shut down Line 5 through executive order.
Additional News & Resources:
Poll: Michigan Voters Overwhelmingly Support Shutting Down Line 5
Report: New Independent Research: Decommissioning Line 5 Feasible Economically (London Economics International)
Infographic: Propane Alternatives to Line 5
Infographic: The Kalamazoo River Oil Spill Disaster
Infographic: The 29 Spills of Line 5
NWF Video: The Kalamazoo River Oil Spill Disaster (Ep. 1)
NWF Video: Seven Years and Counting (Ep. 2)
NWF Video: Actions Speak Louder than Words (Ep. 3)
Video: The Dirty Secret at the Bottom of the Great Lakes (Motherboard)
