Tribal leaders from the Midwest are taking a stand against a crude oil and natural gas liquids pipeline that carries millions of gallons of fossil fuels via the lakebed of the Mackinac Strait that separates Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
They say the Line 5 pipeline, as it’s known, is a threat to the Great Lakes. The pipeline, owned by Canadian energy company Enbridge has already spilled more than a million gallons of oil since the first recorded leak in 1968. Now Enbridge wants to start over and reroute Line 5 into a plan called the Great Lakes Tunnel Project.
Opponents have filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago, and environmentalists are appealing to state and federal agencies to stop the proposed pipeline and tunnel to avert more — and potentially larger — spills.
Enbridge wants to bury its new, concrete-lined tunnel and pipeline deep beneath the lakebed, which the company said will only serve to make a safe pipeline safer.
“If there’s an oil spill, it destroys the Great Lakes,” said Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She was recently in Chicago to challenge Enbridge’s permit application.
Why the Line 5 pipeline exists
Line 5 currently spans 645 miles. The pipeline begins in northern Wisconsin and ends at the border between Michigan and Canada. Built in 1953, the dual pipeline system can move approximately 23 million gallons of fossil fuel a day. Proponents of the pipeline say Michigan counts on it to stay warm in the winter. The majority of the state’s propane flows through Line 5.
Crucially, four miles of the pipeline traverse the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac, which divides lakes Michigan and Huron in two. Because of the energy company’s history of leaks, opponents want to shut it down.
“The Great Lakes provide and are 84% of North America’s surface freshwater,” Gravelle said. “Yet they’re not being protected as this national resource that provides for so many and are constantly being put in danger, most specifically by Line 5.”
Modeling from the University of Michigan’s Water Center found that more than 700 miles of shoreline are vulnerable to a spill — potentially endangering the drinking water supply of more than 40 million people and the precious ecosystems that support thriving fisheries.
In a statement to WBEZ, Enbridge called the pipeline an “economic and energy lifeline for Canada and the U.S.”
“It remains the safest, most efficient way to transport fuels to refineries and markets, and it supports thousands of jobs on both sides of the border,” the statement said. “No alternative, existing or proposed, can provide the needed energy supplied by Line 5.”
Enbridge is currently facing several legal challenges, including one from the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and another from the state of Michigan. Both lawsuits claim the energy company is trespassing due to expired easements and potentially threatening the environment.
If Enbridge wins, Gravelle said she worries that precedent could endanger tribal nations everywhere.
“If Enbridge energy’s interpretations are adopted by the court, what they’re doing is they’re giving not only Enbridge energy but also every other fossil fuel company permission to trespass, destroy and take advantage of tribal nations across the U.S. with no legal ramification whatsoever,” Gravelle said.
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Categories: Illinois, Energy