FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 5, 2016
Dakota Access Decision Prompts Renewed Calls
in Michigan
for Alternative to Enbridge’s Oil Pipeline in the Straits of
Mackinac
A federal government decision Sunday to halt work on the
Dakota Access Pipeline puts more pressure on state officials here to end the
threat to Michigan drinking water and the Great Lakes by beginning the process
of ending the flow of oil through Enbridge Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac,
advocates for shutting down Michigan’s controversial pipeline said today.
“Line 5 is going to be decommissioned,”
said Aaron Payment, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Chairperson. “The only question is whether it happens before the pipeline
ruptures in the Straits, or after it ruptures — leaving us with a catastrophe
that will devastate our way of life.”
Like Enbridge’s Line 5 in Michigan, the Dakota Access
Pipeline was slated to cross through a critically important waterway that is a
drinking water source. In Michigan the
waterway is the Great Lakes. Payment’s
Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is one of five tribes with federally
recognized sovereign rights within the Straits. Eleven tribal organizations, 61
Michigan counties, cities and townships have passed resolutions calling for the
state to stop the flow of oil through the Straits.
A University of Michigan study said an oil spill in the
Straits could impact up to 700 miles of Great Lakes coastline, including
drinking water in St. Ignace, Mackinac Island and Alpena. Up to 23 million gallons of oil flow through
Line 5 in the Straits each day.
“The State of Michigan’s fiduciary role to protect our
public waters is analogous to the federal government’s trustee role to protect
sovereign tribal rights. They are
paramount to private interests like Enbridge,”
said Liz Kirkwood, Executive
Director of FLOW. “The State and the
Army Corps must conduct a comprehensive review of Line 5 and explore
alternative routes now because of failing pipeline supports. Waiting another year for the state’s advisory board to complete its studies does not comply with the law."
Since June, 2014 the state has been studying Line 5 while
refusing to investigate multiple violations of Enbridge’s easement agreement
with the state or taking legal action to decommission the decaying 63-year-old
pipeline. The state has twice
cited Enbridge Energy Partners for violating conditions of its easement
agreement allowing the pipeline to operate in the Great Lakes. Independent experts, citing at least eight
additional violations by Enbridge of the easement agreement, have called on
Gov. Snyder to investigate the company’s pipeline operations in the
Straits.
“The Army Corps of Engineers is pursuing a common-sense
strategy to protect drinking water in North Dakota that should immediately be
embraced by Michigan’s governor and attorney general,” said David Holtz, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair. “Gov. Snyder
and Attorney General Schuette need to end years of dilly dallying and strongly
embrace shutting down Line 5 in the Straits as the only alternative for
protecting the Great Lakes and our drinking water.”
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