State House Gets Revised Line 5 Bill Rearranging Tunnel Deck Chairs While Enbridge Pipelines Remain Threat That Could Sink the Great Lakes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Media contact:  David Holtz/313-300-4454/david@davidholtz.org

State House Gets Revised Line 5 Bill Rearranging Tunnel Deck Chairs While Enbridge Pipelines Remain Threat That Could Sink the Great Lakes

Senate Endorses Move Aimed At Stopping Incoming Governor, Attorney General from Protecting Mackinac Straits from Dangerous Pipelines

LANSING, MI—Citizens groups blasted a Republican state Senate bill passed today by lame duck lawmakers that increases the likelihood of a catastrophic oil pipeline rupture in the Great Lakes while giving a private foreign corporation access to Michigan’s waters, bottomlands, and taxpayer money.

After modifying a provision that would directly saddle the Mackinac Bridge Authority with ownership of a proposed oil tunnel, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 1197. The measure creates a new state body--the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority-- to own and govern the proposed tunnel, although questions remained regarding its relationship with the Mackinac Bridge Authority and any potential liability that could impact the bridge authority.

The proposal now goes to the state House for continued fast-track approval and then on to Gov. Snyder’s desk.  Snyder has been the chief driver of the legislation, which would allow Enbridge Energy Partners Inc. to continue operating the twin Line 5 oil pipelines in the Mackinac Straits under proposed agreements the Canadian multinational corporation secured from the outgoing Michigan governor.  

“This proposed legislation sentences the Great Lakes and Michigan to 10 years or more of living with a massive high risk oil spill in the Mackinac Straits,” said

Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair.  “House members should see this proposed legislation for what it is—a dangerous giveaway to Enbridge—and reject it.”

Enbridge and Snyder have signed agreements that call for Line 5 oil tunnel to be constructed under the Straits, a project that if undertaken, could take up to 10 years or more to complete. Meanwhile, the state has agreed to allow Enbridge to keep operating its deteriorating pipelines on the Straits lakebed where they are subject to ship anchor strikes, corrosion and other threats.

“If Enbridge, a multinational corporation, wants an oil tunnel in the Mackinac Straits that primarily benefits its shareholders it should propose doing it without governmental partnerships or special treatment,” said Sean McBrearty, senior organizer for Clean Water Action  “We need elected representatives who will take care of Michigan’s citizens, its businesses and the Great Lakes, not a Canadian company that has consistently lied to the state and the public about the condition of Line 5—a company that was negligently responsible for the worst oil pipeline rupture in Michigan history.”

After more than four years of Enbridge-funded studies,  Gov. Snyder is racing the clock on an expiring term in an attempt to block his successor, Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer, and Attorney General-elect Dana Nessel, from decommissioning Line 5.   

The new tunnel authority would allow Snyder to immediately appoint a small, three-member board to six-year terms and empower them  to implement agreements for a Line 5 tunnel. The proposed legislation would also:

• Establish a recklessly rushed process with a Dec. 21 deadline -- less than 3 weeks from now -- for creating a series of agreements involving complicated construction and operation of a Mackinac Straits tunnel with little or no review by the public and tribes with treaty rights in the Straits.   
• Require the incoming Attorney General Dana Nessel to defend the new Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority against multiple potential legal challenges, essentially obligating Michigan taxpayers to defend a tunnel that will primarily benefit Enbridge, a foreign corporation.

Governor Snyder Signs Bills Giving Polluting Industries Control Over Environmental Protections in Michigan

Friday, June 29, 2018

Contact: 

April Thomas, 206.321.3850, april.thomas@sierraclub.org

LANSING, MI -- Today Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed into law two bills which allow industry lobbyists to rewrite the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) rulebook and overrule MDEQ permit decisions. Now signed into law, Senate Bills 652-653 will ultimately lead to more environmental and public health disasters like the Flint water crisis, toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie, Nestle’s massive Great Lakes water withdrawal, and toxic air pollution hot spots in Detroit. Over two thousand Sierra Club activists contacted Gov. Snyder since the bills were passed to demand that he veto these dangerous bills, but he failed to do so. These bills will prevent impacted communities and residents concerned about industry pollution from having any say in permit and rule decisions.

“Michigan, like the rest of the nation, has already been robbed of our best protections against dangerous air and water pollution since Scott Pruitt took control of EPA,” said Rhonda Anderson, Organizing Manager for Sierra Club. “Now that this legislation has been signed by Governor Snyder, we’ll have our own Pruitt right here in Michigan, with polluting industries in direct control of our state environmental agency. Communities are already facing unacceptable levels of toxins and pollution in our state. The crisis in Flint has yet to be addressed. Now that Governor Snyder has given away control of our environmental protections in Michigan to big polluters, we are facing an unprecedented crisis of environmental injustice and public health.”

Gov. Snyder has also failed to implement recommendations developed by the Environmental Justice Work Group that he himself created following direct recommendations from the Flint Water Advisory Task Force and the Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee’s Policy Subcommittee. The Work Group, which includes many prominent environmental justice community leaders, submitted their recommendations in March but have yet to see any response from the Governor.

"These bills give industry lobbyists and special interest groups overreaching powers into public health decisions,” said Michelle Martinez, Statewide Coordinator for the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition. “The levels of cancer and cardiovascular disease for our elders, and asthma in children, in areas of Southeast Michigan are costing our families billions of dollars every year, and for some residents forcing them to make harsh decision between medication and other life essentials. Why continue to roll back protections for clean air and clean water now after such staggering crisis like Flint? Instead we should be looking at implementing the Environmental Justice Recommendations put forth-- which have been sitting on Snyder's desk since March-- they provide real solutions, and steps to protect the Great Lakes and safeguard their residents today and in the future."

MDEQ already has a slipshod track record on public health. Allowing polluting industry officials to regulate themselves sets the state up for further health crises and long-lasting environmental degradation.

“The lack of transparency, poor responsiveness to public concerns, and continued negligence of the Michigan DEQ violates basic human rights,” said Mike Berkowitz, Legislative and Political Director for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. “A public forum for community members to call attention to dangerous environmental problems, and to hold in check political pressure on agency staff is absolutely essential. Governor Snyder’s decision to sign these bills is a slap in the face to front-line communities dealing with environmental injustices and will further degrade the DEQ’s already terrible pattern of not listening to citizen concerns.”

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.

Sierra Club Response to Governor Snyder's State of the State Address

We are glad Governor Snyder acknowledged that the people in Flint have been without clean drinking water for over 2 years now. It is beyond time to fix this problem and the underlying issues that caused it” said Mike Berkowitz, Legislative Director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. “We call on Governor Snyder and the state legislature to repeal the emergency manager law, improve Michigan’s Lead and Copper Rule, establish citizen oversight for the Department of Environmental Quality, and create jobs for Michigan workers by funding environmentally sustainable infrastructure.”

PRESS RELEASE: New MDEQ Director Ties to Big Oil Disqualify Her from Enbridge Line 5 Decisions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Sierra Club Calls For Heidi Grether To Disqualify Herself 

From Involvement in Enbridge Line 5 Great Lakes Decisions

New Michigan Environmental Chief Who Bragged About Protecting BP Oil 

Would Lead State's Inquiry Into Controversial Pipelines

LANSING--Sierra Club said today that a former oil industry executive appointed as the state’s top environmental official should recuse herself from involvement in decisions about the future of Enbridge’s controversial Great Lakes pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. 

“Heidi Grether’s ties to the oil industry should disqualify her from taking part in important decisions involving oil pipelines in the Great Lakes,” said David Holtz, Michigan Chapter Chair of Sierra Club  “Grether should make it clear she will recuse herself from being involved in the state’s evaluation of Enbridge’s Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.  Protecting the Great Lakes shouldn’t fall to someone with such close ties to an industry whose profits will be directly impacted by her decisions as a public official.”

Grether, who will take over as director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on August 1, will oversee the state agency that is co-leading the state’s response to the threat of Line 5 in the Straits.   The MDEQ is also playing a key decision-making role in pipeline policy as co-chair of the governor’s Pipeline Safety Advisory Board.  

As General Manager of Gulf Coast External Affairs for BP America Inc., Grether oversaw the oil giant’s response to the massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  Her work in the oil industry dates to 1993, according to her LinkedIn page.  She took credit on her LinkedIn page for preventing “legislation adverse to BP being introduced in the Gulf states.”

“Grether, as director of MDEQ, may be tempted to help out the oil industry in Michigan, just as she did in 2010 in the Gulf when she lobbied against legislation impacting the industry,” said Holtz.   “It doesn’t make sense to have someone with those close ties to the oil industry overseeing protection of the Great Lakes from oil pipelines who in a few months may be looking for another job when Gov. Snyder leaves office.”

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Sierra Club: Veto Great Lakes Diversion

 

LANSING—Sierra Club has formally urged Gov. Rick Snyder to veto a proposed diversion of Great Lakes water when Great Lakes basin governors meet next week to decide whether to grant the suburban Milwaukee community of Waukesha what would be a precedent-setting withdrawal of Lake Michigan water. 

In a letter Wednesday to Snyder, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter leaders told the governor Wisconsin has failed to meet the Great Lakes Compact Agreement’s standards for granting an exception to a 2008 ban on diverting Great Lakes waters outside the Great Lakes basin.

“As the only state virtually entirely within the Great Lakes Basin, Michigan has more at stake in this decision than any other party to the Great Lakes Compact,” the letter stated.  “Not only do the Great Lakes literally define our borders, we depend on these waters to make our state an attractive place to live and work and to protect our irreplaceable natural resources. Michigan cannot afford to allow this badly flawed, first ever proposed Great Lakes water diversion under the Great Lakes Compact to go forward.”

The letter was signed by Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair David Holtz, State Director Gail Philbin and Conservation Chair Anne Woiwode.   The full text of the letter follows this release.

While Waukesha has serious problems with radium contamination of their drinking water source, for the past eight years the city has refused to use other options to diverting water for Lake Michigan even as neighboring communities do so.

“There’s no debate that the people of Waukesha need safe, clean drinking water,” said David Holtz, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair.  “But Waukesha and Wisconsin officials have failed their residents by refusing to do what other communities faced with similar problems have done, believing they can muscle their way to diverting Great Lakes water. “

 The Great Lakes Governors Council is scheduled to decide Wisconsin’s request on Tuesday.

“It’s up to Gov. Snyder to protect the Great Lakes from an unnecessary, precedent-setting diversion that would open the floodgates from other communities outside the Great Lakes basin who want to dip their straws into the Great Lakes,” said Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Conservation Chair.   “Wisconsin’s insistence on rejecting a less expensive treatment for their drinking water shouldn’t be rewarded.”

In its letter to Gov. Snyder, Sierra Club also pointed out a recent legal decision by the Wisconsin Attorney General that could allow communities like Waukesha to renege on agreements for managing groundwater resources. 

“What this means is if Waukesha is allowed to use water diverted from Lake Michigan they may still try to continue using groundwater resources without any limits being placed on them by the State of Wisconsin,” said Holtz.  “This essentially means the terms for granting any diversion of Great Lakes water to Wisconsin may be unenforceable. Waukesha could simply use the additional water resources it would have available to support more growth and eventually even greater demand for Great Lakes water.”

##

 June 16, 2016

The Honorable Rick Snyder

Executive Office

Michigan State Capitol

Lansing, MI 48933

Dear Governor Snyder:

            One of the most important decisions of your tenure as the Governor of Michigan will occur next week at the Great Lakes Governors meeting in Chicago.  We urge you to exercise your authority under the Great Lakes Compact to VETO the proposal to divert water from Lake Michigan to the City of Waukesha, Wisconsin. While modifications suggested by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Regional Body made some important improvements to the badly flawed original proposal from Waukesha, that plan continues to fail the most fundamental criteria at the heart of Great Lakes Compact. Simply put, Waukesha cannot demonstrate a need for this diversion, and, failing that, this precedent setting diversion could permanently harm Michigan and the Great Lakes.

            For the past eight years, Waukesha has pursued approval under the Compact for diversion of water to their city.  They do face a serious problem with radium contaminating their source of water, and we do not make light of their need for safe, clean drinking water. However, the city has repeatedly rejected a less expensive course for addressing this issue that involves employing treatment options currently in use by two of their neighboring communities. From the start, Waukesha’s resistance to this feasible alternative has been the overwhelming argument for vetoing their proposed diversion, and that situation has not changed.

            A recent decision by the Wisconsin Attorney General has added even greater urgency to denying this proposed diversion. Under a May 10, 2016 opinion that has now been adopted by the Department of Natural Resources, WI Attorney General Brad D. Schimel has concluded that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has no authority to manage “high capacity groundwater well withdrawal permits” to protect or manage groundwater resources or impacts on surface waters because the Wisconsin Legislature has not explicitly delegated public trust over non-navigable waters of the state to the WDNR. One consequence of this is that the WDNR will not be able to require the City of Waukesha to discontinue the withdrawal of water from their groundwater wells even if the diversion from Lake Michigan is approved. Moreover, they will not be able to restrict neighboring communities or industries from pumping water from the same aquifer.  More importantly, despite efforts throughout the history of the Great Lakes Compact to assure that each state was also carefully stewarding its groundwater resources, in Wisconsin any prior commitments to that effect are currently incapable of being enforced by the agency vested with that duty. 

            As the only state virtually entirely within the Great Lakes Basin, Michigan has more at stake in this decision than any other party to the Great Lakes Compact. Not only do the Great Lakes literally define our borders, we depend on these waters to make our state an attractive place to live and work and to protect our irreplaceable natural resources. Michigan cannot afford to allow this badly flawed, first ever proposed Great Lakes water diversion under the Great Lakes Compact to go forward.  Your veto of this proposal is critical for Michigan’s future. 

Sincerely,

David Holtz, Chair                                                                           

Gail Philbin, Director

Anne Woiwode, Conservation Chair

Sierra Club statement on Great Lakes Office Director Jon Allen’s Support for the Waukesha, WI, Great Lakes Water Diversion

Sierra Club statement on Great Lakes Office Director Jon Allen’s Support for the Waukesha, WI, Great Lakes Water Diversion

Anne Woiwode, Michigan Chapter Conservation Chair

Bill Davis, John Muir (Wisconsin) Chapter Director

May 31, 2016

Anyone who cares about protecting the Great Lakes will be extremely disappointed in the decision by Jon Allen, the Director of Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, to support the first diversion of Great Lakes water outside of the Great Lakes basin under the Great Lakes Compact^[1].  It is nothing more than an attempt to put a public relations spin on a bad decision to recommend that Waukesha be granted a precedent-setting Great Lakes diversion, the first under the historic 2008 Compact agreement.

The Great Lakes define both Wisconsin and Michigan, and are one of our region’s most important natural resources. That is why the Great Lakes Compact has enjoyed such widespread support from Michigan elected leaders from both parties and from so many Michiganders. The Great Lakes Compact was created to make sure water stays in the Great Lakes to continue to provide economic and recreational opportunities for our region for future generations.  First and foremost, to meet the requirements of the Great Lakes Compact a community must show there is no other feasible alternative to Great Lakes water to meet their needs.  The city of Waukesha’s application fails on that point. 

To argue, as Mr. Allen does, that the diversion should be permitted because some of the groundwater Waukesha is currently pumping may be connected to the Great Lakes is absurd.  It violates the basic premise of the Compact that a community must show they need to pump water out of the Great Lakes.  This was intended to be a “high bar” but under Mr. Allen’s logic any community that could make a claim that their groundwater is somehow connected to the lakes would be granted a permit.  This is not what was intended.

Mr. Allen’s comments are particularly ironic in light of the Michigan Senate action last week; the Senate got it right when it passed Resolution 173 on a bipartisan basis which calls on Governor Snyder to veto the proposed Waukesha Diversion.  The resolution acknowledges that other alternatives exist for Waukesha and the precedent of approving this first diversion would be potentially devastating to the Great Lakes and to Michigan, the Great Lakes State. 

We urge Governor Snyder to heed the calls from increasing numbers of organizations and officials urging that he veto this proposed diversion of our Great Lakes waters.

########

Contact information:

Bill Davis: 608 256-0565, 608 345-2087 cell; bill.davis@sierraclub.org

Anne Woiwode: 517-974-2112; anne.woiwode@michigan.sierraclub.org

---

^[1] “Allan: Stop diversion of water from Lake Michigan into Wisconsin,”
Lansing State Journal, http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/contributors/viewpoints/2016/05/29/allan-stop-diversion-water-lake-michigan-wisconsin/84987268/

Enbridge Line 5 Operating Illegally

Snyder, Schuette asked to shut down “Line 5” over easement violations

Media Contacts:  Liz Kirkwood, FLOW, liz@flowforwater.org, office: 231-944-1568; cell: 570-872-4956 and David Holtz, Sierra Club, 313-300-4454/david@davidholtz.org

Citing new research and documentation revealing cracks, dents, corrosion, and structural defects in the twin oil pipelines in the Mackinac Straits, 22 environmental and tribal groups today formally requested that Gov. Snyder and Attorney General Schuette shut down “Line 5” oil in the Straits based on Enbridge’s multiple easement violations.

The violations mean Enbridge is operating illegally and has broken its legal agreement with the state and people of Michigan.

Enbridge’s ongoing violations related to pipeline design threaten the very safety and health of the Great Lakes, and thus trigger the state’s duty to enforce its agreement with Enbridge. Under the 1953 easement, the state must provide Canadian-based energy transporter Enbridge 90 days to resolve any known easement violations. The state now has substantial legal and factual cause to terminate the agreement with Enbridge to stop the oil flow and protect the Great Lakes, public water supplies, and the Pure Michigan economy, according to an April 13 letter to Snyder and Schuette, signed by partner groups in the Oil & Water Don’t Mix campaign.

 

“The law and this easement agreement are clear: state leaders cannot wait another year or more while Enbridge continues to violate safety conditions it agreed to and withholds safety inspection and other data from the public and the state,” said environmental attorney Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director of FLOW (For Love of Water) in Traverse City. “Gov. Snyder and Attorney General Schuette must start the clock to terminate the state’s easement agreement that allows Enbridge to operate the Line 5 pipelines on state-owned bottomlands and waters.”

“The law and this easement agreement are clear: state leaders cannot wait another year or more while Enbridge continues to violate safety conditions it agreed to and withholds safety inspection and other data from the public and the state." - Liz Kirkwood, Environmental Attorney, Executive Director of FLOW (For Love of Water)

In their letter, the groups identified eight specific violations of the easement and state law, including:

• Concealing information about cracks, dents, and corrosion with continued, sweeping assertions and misrepresentations that the Straits pipelines are in “excellent condition, almost as new as when they were built and installed” and have “no observed corrosion.” Of the nine rust spots on the eastern Straits pipeline, corrosion has eaten away 26 percent of the pipeline’s wall thickness in a 7-inch-long area, according to newly released company data.
• Failing to meet the pipeline wall thickness requirement due to corrosion and manufacturing defects. Newly released Enbridge data reveals that manufacturing defects in the 1950s resulted in pipeline wall thickness of less than half an inch in perhaps hundreds of sections and up to 41 percent less thick than mandated on the west Straits pipeline. Enbridge continues to boast about its “nearly one-inch-thick walls of Line 5’s steel pipe travelling under the Straits.”
• Failing to meet the “reasonably prudent person” provision by claiming that its steel pipelines lying underwater just west of the Mackinac Bridge since 1953 can last forever and do not require a plan for eventual decommissioning. The 63-year-old pipelines were built to last 50 years.
• Failing to demonstrate adequate liability insurance, maintain required coating and wood-slat covering to prevent rust and abrasion and adequately support the pipeline, resulting in stressed and deformed segments.
• Failing to adhere to federal emergency spill response and state environmental protection laws, including Act 10 of P.A. 1953, the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (“GLSLA”), the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (“MEPA”), and public trust law.

Learn more at this link or visit www.oilandwaterdontmix.org.

Enbridge Must Release All Pipeline Safety Documents for Risky “Line 5” in the Straits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 24, 2016


Enbridge Must Release All Pipeline Safety 
Documents for Risky “Line 5” in the Straits
Amid New Concerns About Great Lakes Safety, Groups Back State's
Demand For Immediate Transparency from Canadian Pipeline Giant


Media Contacts:  Lynna Kaucheck 313-486-1356/lkaucheck@fwwatch.org, Liz Kirkwood 231 944 1568/liz@flowforwater.org, David Holtz 313-300-4454/david@davidholtz.org


Citizens groups today were sharply critical of Enbridge Energy’s failure to comply with demands by state officials to disclose information on the safety of Enbridge’s Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.

In a March 11 letter to Enbridge, top state environmental officials and Attorney General Bill Schuette—citing “continuing concerns about potential risks” from the Straits pipelines—gave  Enbridge 30 days to comply with their request for detailed information on the twin pipelines.  The letter follows disclosures earlier this year by Enbridge of corrosion in the pipelines.

“Enbridge’s refusal to make pipeline safety inspection and other data publicly available raises serious questions that require answers that only Enbridge can provide,” said David Holtz, Chair of Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Executive Committee.   “Enbridge needs to come clean on what they know and what they aren’t telling us about oil pipelines that pose a huge threat to the Great Lakes.”

In their letter to Enbridge, state officials demanded pipeline inspection, integrity, operating pressure and other information including the impact of invasive mussels that cover the pipelines.  Inspection records from 2013 show corrosion in nine spots, but the documents release by Enbridge consisted of a summary.  Other pipeline information previously shared with the state was of limited value because they were in read-only format.  Schuette, along with Keith Creagh, interim director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and William Moritz, interim director of theMichigan Department of Natural Resources, asked for detailed pipeline inspection documents and videos along with the company’s own evaluations, assessments and reports on the pipelines.

According to the state’s March 11 letter, Enbridge has asserted that the pipeline information is protected from disclosure because of confidentiality and security.  The state has challenged Enbridge’s claims.

“The public is entitled to know what Enbridge knows about the safety of those pipelines,” said Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director, FLOW.   “Enbridge is going all around the state telling people that these pipelines are safe, that we shouldn’t worry about the risk of a pipeline rupture in the Great Lakes.  But their refusal to release these pipeline safety documents speak much louder than their words.”

State officials noted that pipeline safety inspection and other data are critically important to assessing risks posed by the pipelines, something that a state pipeline safety advisory board is currently evaluating as part of a process that is also looking at the future of Line 5 in the Straits.

“Shutting down Line 5 is the only real option for protecting the Great Lakes,” said Lynna Kaucheck, Senior Organizer, Food & Water Watch.  “It becomes clearer each and every day just how risky it is for us to be trusting Enbridge’s word on safety.”

##

For a copy of the State of Michigan’s letter to Enbridge email david@davidholtz.org

Michigan residents flock to Lansing to urge Snyder, lawmakers to act now on straits pipeline

Michigan residents flock to Lansing to urge Snyder, lawmakers to act now on straits pipeline

Citizen lobbyists deliver 8,500 letters to governor urging action on aging Enbridge Line 5

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 23, 2016

Media Contacts:  Lynna Kaucheck, Food & Water Watch, (586) 556-8805 | lkaucheck@fwwatch.org
Sean McBrearty, Clean Water Action, (616) 516-7758 | smcbrearty@cleanwater.org

LANSING—A growing wave of public concern about Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac brought dozens of citizens from across Michigan to Lansing Tuesday to urge lawmakers and the Snyder administration to act now to protect the Great Lakes from a disastrous oil spill. 

The day of action comes as communities around Michigan are raising their concerns about the pipeline and calling for immediate action. To date, more than 20 local units of government have passed resolutions urging Gov. Rick Snyder to use his authority to shut down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac or demanding other state action to prevent an oil spill.

“It’s clearer now than ever that people and communities throughout Michigan will not tolerate the huge risk Line 5 continues to pose to our environment, economy and drinking water,” said Lynna Kaucheck, Food & Water Watch. “Business owners, environmentalists, tribal leaders and other Michiganders from all walks of life are united in our determination to stop the flow of oil through the Great Lakes. Our efforts today should make it unmistakably clear to our political leaders that inaction is not an acceptable option.”

Citizen lobbyists met with 22 state lawmakers on behalf of the Oil & Water Don’t Mix campaign and asked them to support a resolution before both chambers that calls on the governor to terminate Enbridge’s easement of Great Lakes bottomlands and shut down Line 5 in the straits.Participants also dropped off some 8,500 letters at Gov. Snyder’s office calling on him to shut down the pipeline. 

“I think the huge stack of letters we’re delivering today is a sign of how passionately Michigan residents care about our Great Lakes and how urgent a threat we believe Line 5 poses to our water and way of life,” said Sean McBrearty, Clean Water Action. “Every day the governor allows Enbridge to pump oil through the Straits of Mackinac is another roll of the dice, with the world’s greatest freshwater resource at risk. Let’s quit gambling with the Great Lakes.”

The 2010 Kalamazoo River disaster—the worst inland oil spill in U.S. history—was one of more than 800 oil spills Enbridge was responsible for in the U.S. and Canada from 1999 to 2010. Today the company is working to skirt public review processes and expand its GXL pipeline network in the Great Lakes region to carry 1.1 million barrels per day of tar sands crude—a significantly greater volume than was proposed for the Keystone XL pipeline—according to a report issued last week by several environmental groups. Line 5 is part of the GXL network, and carries Canadian petroleum products from Superior, Wis., to Sarnia, Ontario.

“It’s time for Michigan’s leaders to stand up to Enbridge and make it clear that we will not allow the company to continue putting our Great Lakes at risk by using them as a shortcut from Canadian oil fields to Canadian refineries,” said Mike Berkowitz, legislative and political director for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. “The public’s concern about Line 5 could not be clearer. The Snyder administration must assert its authority before another disaster tarnishes our fresh water and our state’s reputation.”

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Shame on Gov. Snyder for caving to AG Schuette, corporate polluters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Contact: Mike Berkowitz, (248) 345-9808

Sierra Club: Shame on Gov. Snyder for caving to AG Schuette, corporate polluters

LANSING—Mike Berkowitz, Legislative and Political Director of the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club, issued the following statement regarding Gov. Rick Snyder’s decision to pull the plug on a plan to reduce carbon pollution in Michigan:

“When it comes to actually leading Michigan’s transition away from dirty, expensive coal, we’ve seen nothing from Gov. Snyder but relentless, positive inaction. His decision to pull the plug on a common-sense plan to reduce carbon pollution in Michigan is shameful and is just another example of his failure to lead and protect Michigan’s families and natural resources. Once again, Snyder has caved to corporate polluters and Attorney General Bill Schuette’s political antics.”

###

Sierra Club Calls for Urgent Action, Probe of MDEQ in Flint Public Health Crisis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, October 2, 2015

Media Contact:  David Holtz, david@davidholtz.org/313-300-4454

LANSING—Sierra Club today called on Gov. Rick Snyder to act decisively and urgently to implement plans to end the public health crisis in Flint and to support an independent investigation into the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s oversight of federal drinking water laws.

“Given the clear risks to vulnerable populations and the state’s public health responsibilities this is a time for strong leadership and accountability from state public health authorities and the governor,” said David Holtz, Sierra Club Michigan Chair.  “The governor, finally, is assuming direct responsibility for responding to a crisis that every day is damaging the health of Flint’s children. His actions should be much stronger, however, and he needs to find out how we got to the point where Flint children are drinking lead and what the MDEQ’s role was in those decisions and actions.”

The Snyder administration today outlined a series of steps they will take to address Flint’s public health crisis.   They include accelerated and expanded water treatment, providing filters to some residents, expanded testing of residents and an examination of whether to temporarily switch back to the Detroit water system.  Replacing Flint’s lead pipes over time were also on the administration’s to-do list.

Sierra Club Michigan Director Gail Philbin said only independent testing of Flint’s water for lead will be credible because of questions raised regarding the city and MDEQ’s handling of past test results.

“Parents need to know drinking water is safe for their children,” said Philbin.  “Immediately they need credible testing for lead and alternatives to contaminated water.  The likely best way to ensure safe drinking water in Flint is to change to a safe and reliable drinking water source and that’s Detroit’s water system and to eliminate lead pipes.”

Investigations by the ACLU and nationally recognized drinking water expert Marc Edwards at Virginia Tech University have pointed to failures in testing and enforcement of federal drinking water standards by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.   An MDEQ spokesman reportedly attacked Virginia Tech’s results and complained about the “near-hysteria” over Flint’s water supply. The Virginia Tech researcher documented what he called “mistakes and deception” involving the MDEQ’s handling of Flint’s drinking water problem.

“Along with ensuring Flint residents aren’t drinking lead, we need for the governor to ensure that the public gets answers to what happened and why we ended up with a public health crisis in Flint,” said Holtz.   “That will require an independent investigation.  If that’s something Governor Snyder is unwilling to do we need federal authorities to determine to what extent, if any, state officials who are responsible for implementing federal drinking water standards are accountable for the public health crisis in Flint.”

The Greater Flint Health Coalition, a group of health professionals in the Flint community, has concluded that Flint’s drinking water is unsafe because of elevated lead blood levels. The city of Flint began using the Flint River as a water source in April 2014 following a decision made by emergency manager Darnell Earley. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies show that lead in drinking water can cause serious health problems and that the greatest risk of lead exposure is to infants, young children and pregnant women.  Scientists have linked the effects of lead on the brain with lowered IQ in children.

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Sierra Club Responds to Enbridge Pipeline Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday,  July 14, 2015

Media contact:   David Holtz, 313-300-4454, david@davidholtz.org

The following statement can be attributed to David Holtz, Chair,

Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Executive Committee:

Today’s Michigan Petroleum Task Force recommendations by Attorney General Bill Schuette and the Snyder administration appear to offer the potential for eventual relief from the threat of Enbridge’s pipelines through the Straits of Mackinac, but leave the Great Lakes, drinking water sources and northern Michigan’s tourist economy unacceptably vulnerable to a catastrophic pipeline rupture.

If you believe these existing pipelines pose an immediate threat to the Great Lakes—and we do—the task force recommendations amount to a rearranging of deck chairs on Michigan’s Titanic of oil pipelines, only worse:  the threat of Enbridge’s pipelines through the Straits are there for all to see.  What is needed—and needed now—is to shut down Line 5.  Only then can Michiganders be assured that the Great Lakes and northern Michigan’s tourist economy are no longer at risk from an oil spill that would consume the shoreline around Mackinac Island and from Lake Michigan to Rogers City along Lake Huron.

Unfortunately, Attorney General Schuette and the Snyder administration failed to prioritize the immediate threat of the Straits pipelines.  That is disappointing and given that many of the recommendations in the report could take months and years to implement, the report constitutes a failure on the part of state officials to prioritize protecting the Great Lakes over protecting the oil industry’s profits.

The task force recommendation to examine alternatives to the Enbridge pipelines through the Straits is welcome but must be a public, transparent process instead of the behind-the-scenes, secretive process that has mostly characterized the pipeline task force proceedings.  Moreover, the task force recommendations reinforce the need for transparency and we are disappointed that the task force failed to lodge opposition to pending legislation what would make most pipeline safety documents secret. 

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Citizens Groups Call for More Action, Less Lip Service from Gov. Snyder

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News from Clean Energy Now

March 13, 2015

Contact: Marissa Luna, 989-798-3051, marissa@engagemichigan.org

Citizens Groups Call for More Action, Less Lip Service from Gov. Snyder

Governor must set specific renewable energy, energy efficiency policies

WARREN – Today, Governor Rick Snyder presented his Special Message on Energy, outlining his vision for Michigan’s energy future over the next 10 years. He highlighted the need to reduce utilities over reliance on coal, increase utilities use of renewable energy, and reduce energy waste as the best way to protect public health and preserve Michigan’s Great Lakes and environment, but did not put forward any specific policy suggestions.

“Governor Snyder needs to set clear and measurable energy standards to make the potential goals that he outlined in his energy message actually happen. For over two years now, the governor has talked about his energy framework for Michigan. Now is the time for action,” said Mike Berkowitz, legislative & political director for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. “The reason utilities generate 9 percent of their energy from renewable sources is because of the laws passed in 2008 requiring it. We need a Renewable Energy Standard and Energy Optimization Standard in order to ensure that utilities continue decreasing energy waste and increasing clean energy generation. We didn’t get that from the governor today.”

Michigan’s current renewable energy standard requires that utilities generate 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources by the end of the year — a target that utilities are on track to meet at a lower cost than initially projected. A study released this year by the University of Michigan’s Energy Institute found that utilities are capable of reaching a 40 percent renewable energy standard by 2035.

Additionally, many of Michigan’s old, expensive and obsolete coal-fired power plants are reaching, or have already reached, the end of their life spans and will soon need to close down.

“Michigan is at a crossroads and we have a moral obligation to choose the path that protects our children and future generations from the danger and cost of environmental destruction,” said Alexis Blizman, policy director for the Ecology Center. “Our elected leaders have a choice: protect our clean air and drinking water, or allow destructive industries to sacrifice our health and our kids’ future.”

On March 3, Michigan House and Senate Democrats voiced support for increasing the state's renewable energy standard to 20 percent by 2022. Two days later, Rep. Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) introduced an eight-bill package that would corrupt Michigan’s renewable energy standard by classifying burning hazardous waste as renewable energy and repeal the state’s energy optimization standards for both electric and natural gas utilities.

Clearly, Governor Snyder now needs to lay out clear and defined goals. Today, as with the last three years, the governor’s speech had a lot of rhetoric but no substance,” said Eric Keller, campaigns director for Michigan Clean Water Action. “What we need is for the Governor and our elected officials to lead the way. This means first being leaders themselves and going beyond rhetoric and the bare minimum.”

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Clean Energy Now is a coalition of groups that supports policies that will move Michigan beyond coal power and toward greater use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency as a way to protect public health, the environment, and build prosperity. Follow the campaign at CleanEnergyNowMI.org.

NEWS: Michigan Sierra Club Launches Online Political Advertising Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 10, 2014

CONTACT:

Mike Berkowitz

248-345-9808

mike.berkowitz@sierraclub.org

Michigan Sierra Club Launches Online Political Advertising Campaign

Nation’s Largest Grassroots Conservation Organization to target Gubernatorial and State Legislative races

LANSING, MI  - Today, the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club launched an online political advertising campaign in support of Mark Schauer and ten candidates for the Michigan Legislature.  The campaign includes a video featuring Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Director Anne Woiwode and Schauer, who is endorsed by the Sierra Club.

The ads also target ten state legislative districts supporting David Haener (House District 23), Sandy Colvin (House District 39), Annie Brown (House District 66), Theresa Abed (House District 71), Winnie Brinks (House District 76), Annie Braidwood (House District 85), Collene Lamonte (House District 91), Bryan Mielke (House District 99), Tom Stobie (House District 101) and Dian Slavens (Senate District 7).

“We are using online capabilities to reach Sierra Club and other environmental supporters with a message letting them know which candidates support protecting our Great Lakes system and which do not,” said Mike Berkowitz, Political Director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. “By linking ads to our legislative scorecard, voter guide, and endorsed candidate websites, voters will be able to access information letting them know where candidates stand on issues important to Michigan’s future.”

To see a full list of the Michigan Sierra Club’s endorsements, click here.

About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters nationwide, and over 150,000 in Michigan. In addition to creating opportunities for people of all ages, levels and locations to have meaningful outdoor experiences, the Sierra Club works to safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation. For more information, visit http://www.sierraclub.org.

Paid for by Michigan Sierra PAC (109 E. Grand River Ave. Lansing, MI 48906)

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Gov. Snyder Should Act On Great Lakes Oil Spill Threat

For Immediate Release: Monday, Sept. 15, 2014

Contact:

David Holtz, Sierra Club                                 Liz Kirkwood, For Love of Water

313-300-4454; david@davidholtz.org      (231) 944-1568; liz@flowforwater.org

Pressure Mounts for Gov. Snyder to Act as Coast Guard Admits Its Unprepared

for Heavy Oil Spill

Citizens groups concerned that Enbridge plans to bring more heavy oil through Michigan pipelines

Citizens groups today called on Gov. Rick Snyder to take immediate steps toward protecting Michigan from oil pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac, in the wake of revelations that the United States Coast Guard cannot effectively respond to a major heavy oil spill in the Great Lakes.

“The governor not only has the authority but the responsibility to protect the Great Lakes from the threat of a potentially catastrophic oil spill posed by two huge Enbridge oil pipelines across the straits,” said David Holtz, Executive Committee Chair of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.  “The cost to our state’s economy and our Great Lakes system is just too great for this not to be an urgent priority for the governor.”

News reports last week revealed that lack of equipment, training, and funding left the Coast Guard—designated as first responders for any oil spill in the lakes—unprepared for a heavy oil spill.  This is based on a 2013 Coast Guard study and statements made by Coast Guard officials who raise particular concern that heavy tar sands oil sinks below the surface, making traditional recovery methods ineffective. 

Environmental leaders say that in addition to keeping out tar sands oil, what’s needed is for the governor to assert authority under the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act and start an open public process to evaluate the safety and future of the Line 5 pipelines that run through the Straits.

Given the increased risks and clean-up challenges posed by heavy tar sands oil, citizens groups say the governor should also move to modify the state’s 1953 easement agreement with Enbridge to ensure that heavy tar sands are not moving through Line 5.  Enbridge says the heavy oils are not moving through the Straits, but the groups point out that this could change at any time without public notice or state approval.

“If our governor is serious about protecting the Great Lakes, he will heed the Coast Guard warning and prevent tar sands from moving through the Straits as a condition of the state's easement with Enbridge,” said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of FLOW in Traverse City. ”

At the same time Enbridge is saying there are no tar sands oils in Line 5, the company is investing between $36 and $43 billion in the next five years to expand its nearly 16,000 miles of pipeline systems. Many believe it is part of its plan to bring more tar sands oil in this direction. One of their biggest projects is to expand the Alberta Clipper pipeline, which connects the tar sands formation in Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin where Line 5 begins on the shores of Lake Superior. When completed, the Alberta Clipper will double its capacity to 880,000 barrels of oil per day.  This expansion has been controversial because the company has broken up its expansion into pieces to avoid the scrutiny and public process involved in seeking a U.S. Presidential permit.

As for his response, Gov. Snyder has formed a task force to study oil pipelines across the state, including the Enbridge pipeline issue, over the next year or so, a process that is not open to the public.

“This can’t just be a problem you toss to a task force of agencies who work in the dark within a long, drawn out process that can be too easily influenced by Enbridge and the oil industry,” said Holtz.  “This should be a much higher priority and the public needs be involved.  Should there even be oil pipelines in the Great Lakes?  That’s the real question we need to ask and answer.”

The increased risks and difficulty of cleaning up tar sands oils became apparent when in 2010 an Enbridge oil pipeline spilled one million gallons of heavy tar sands oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. This is the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history, and more than four years and a billion dollars later the cleanup is ongoing.

An oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac would be catastrophic. According to University of Michigan researcher, Dr. David Schwab, the Straits of Mackinac is the “worse possible place for an oil spill in the Great Lakes.”  At any moment, there are more than 1 million gallons of oil in the pipelines beneath the Straits of Mackinac. So even if a pipeline leak were detected immediately and shut off, an enormous spill could occur. The University’s modeling found that strong and shifting currents at the Straits would disperse crude oil in both east and west directions, affecting large areas of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shorelines. Passenger ferry service and drinking water would be cut to Mackinac Island.

“The Coast Guard report is more grave news about what we already know – we don’t want to have to clean up an oil spill in the Great Lakes,” said Kirkwood. “We should turn our focus from cleanup to prevention, and the best way to prevent a spill is for the state to look at whether the pipeline should be there in the first place. The governor needs to start that process immediately.”

Video: Available in other formats upon request.

• The University of Michigan animation of the predicted impacts of a spill from this pipeline:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_0AsAAHpcs
• Underwater footage of the pipeline below the Straits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCMfDDcyRb0  (3:06-4:30)
• The TV commercial airing now across Northern Michigan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc1I9diLgjc

Background: A pair of underwater oil pipelines carry nearly 23 million gallons of oil through the Straits of Mackinac every day. The pipelines are owned by Enbridge, the Canadian company responsible for the 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill - the largest inland spill in U.S. history. Enbridge pipelines had more than 1,000 spills in the United States and Canada between 1999 and 2013.  Research by the University of Michigan has shown that an oil spill would prove catastrophic in the strong, erratic currents of the Straits. FLOW and Sierra Club are part of the Oil and Water Don't Mix campaign. For more information, visit www.OilandWaterDontMix.org.  

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