The blackest city in the US is facing an environmental justice nightmare
Detroit’s most vulnerable residents face inequalities like toxic air, lead poisoning, and water shutoffs. Now they’re fighting back.
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Showing posts with label environmental disaster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental disaster. Show all posts
January 9, 2020
January 8, 2020
Struggling to breathe in 48217, Michigan’s most toxic ZIP code
This is the first in a series of stories exploring environmental racism in Michigan.
Carmen Garrison avoids the outdoors because she's certain the air is poisoning her.
As a kid, she often threw up and had a headache after walking to school in southwest Detroit. More than three decades later, her eyes burn, her throat hurts, and her nose runs if she takes even a short stroll down the road.
April 13, 2016
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.
October 29, 2015
Representatives Irwin and Roberts Issue Call for Line 5 Closure
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015
|
Contact: Rep. Jeff Irwin or Rep. Roberts
Phone: (517) 373-2577 or (517) 373-1180
|
Irwin, Roberts Issue Call for Line 5 Closure
Urge governor and attorney general to shut down dangerous pipeline
LANSING — State Representatives Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) and Sarah Roberts (D-St. Clair Shores) held a press conference today calling for Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette to close Enbridge Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. The US Coast Guard, citizens, legislators and environmental groups alike have raised concerns over the dangers of the 62-year-old pipeline, which carries 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas under the Straits of Mackinac every day.
“Bills to increases pipeline safety in Michigan have been waiting for action in Lansing for over a year. Meanwhile this 62 year old pipeline continues to operate in the worst possible place for a spill and we’re supposed to trust that a company with a sketchy track record has it under control,” said Rep. Irwin. “We’ve called for inspections and anchoring of the pipelines, but the legislature and the Governor have ignored those calls. Now, with winter approaching and no action plan in place, we are calling for the pipeline crossing the Straits of Mackinac to be shut down and for our Governor and Attorney General to stop sanctioning this threat to our greatest natural resource.”
In 2014, a study done by the University of Michigan’s Water Center concluded that due to the massive, fluctuating flows of the Straits, it would be the worst location in the Great Lakes for an oil spill to happen. Prompting a greater sense of urgency was the recent release of a report by the U.S. Coast Guard, stating they are not adequately equipped to respond to an oil spill in the Lakes. The Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has indicated that the line has at least 2,400 known defects as of 2011, and also show that Enbridge, who operates the pipeline, has inspected less than 12 percent of them.
Enbridge was responsible for the Kalamazoo River oil spill in 2010, the largest and most expensive in-land oil spill in U.S. history. Enbridge has a history of failure and their pipelines routinely leak. There have been 15 documented failures over 17 years leaking about 260,000 gallons of oil, sometimes near the Straits, just on Line 5. The consequences of a Line 5 rupture would be much further reaching, endangering countless plant and wildlife species, as well as threatening Michigan’s $22.4 billion tourism industry.
David Holtz of the Michigan Sierra Club joined Reps. Irwin and Roberts in calling for action on the resolution. “While Michigan businesses and citizens are clamoring for action, the Governor and the Attorney General keep talking about doing more talking,” said Holtz. “At some point, Michigan needs action, not endless task forces and advisory boards that push the obvious solutions further away.”
"In July, our own Attorney General Bill Schuette stated that “Line 5’s days are numbered,” but the task force he created to investigate the issue did not call for the line’s closure and he has taken no action,” said Rep. Roberts. “Despite the known and inevitable risks, this pipeline continues to be operated by a company with a tarnished safety record that offers little transparency about its inspection process. We cannot wait for an emergency to force us to act. Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac must be shut down.”
###
August 4, 2015
Press Release: Gov. Blanchard Asked To Act on Enbridge Line 5 Great Lakes Threat
Gov. Blanchard Asked To Act on
Enbridge Line 5 Great Lakes Threat
Former
Governor Is Now Enbridge Board Member
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Media Contacts: David Holtz 313-300-4454
david@davidholtz.org
Anne Woiwode 517-974-2112
anne.woiwode@sierraclub.org
LANSING—Sierra Club today asked former Michigan Gov. James
J. Blanchard, a member of Enbridge Inc.’s Board of Directors, to compel the
company to publicly disclose safety inspection results and cooperate in an independent
investigation sought by the state of the dangerous Line 5 pipelines through the
Straits of Mackinac.
Blanchard chairs the board’s Committee on Social
Responsibility which oversees Enbridge’s environmental stewardship policies and
he was requested in a letter from Sierra Club to commit to getting the company
“to permanently remove the threat of
Enbridge Line 5 through the Straits of Mackinac by ending the flow of oil
through the Straits pipelines. “
“As governor, Mr.
Blanchard created the state’s first Office of the Great Lakes,” said Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Conservation Director. “We now need him to step up once again. We
need him to make sure the company he now helps lead isn’t responsible for a
Great Lakes disaster.”
Sierra Club’s
letter to the former Michigan governor, who still maintains an Oakland County
residence, follows the July 14 release of the Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task
Force report. The report
identified crucial areas where Enbridge failed to disclose pipeline safety
information on Line 5 in the Straits, failed to identify critical pipeline
safety threats, failed to maintain legally required pipeline infrastructure and
provided inconsistent information about its liability in the event of a
catastrophic oil spill. The state
government task force also concluded that Enbridge’s assertions that the 61-year-old Straits pipelines can be
operated indefinitely without replacement plans are unreasonable.
Sierra Club, in its
letter to Blanchard, said, “The documentation and conclusions in this task
force report, reflecting the expertise and judgment of the state’s top
environmental, legal and natural resources officials, point to a pattern of
behavior on the part of Enbridge officials that is in conflict with Enbridge’s
corporate environmental stewardship policies and authorized business
practices. Those fall within your area
of responsibility as Chair of Enbridge’s Corporate Social Responsibility
Committee.”
The letter, signed by Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair David
Holtz and Woiwode, cited Enbridge’s Corporate Social Responsibility and
Statement on Business Conduct policies.
Those policies were revised in the wake of the disastrous 2010 Line
Enbridge Line 6B pipeline rupture, the largest oil spill on land in United
States history. The new policies pledged
Enbridge to the “highest standards of
business conduct” and directed its subsidiaries, including Enbridge Energy
Partners, to “establish and maintain…operations in an environmentally
responsible manner in accordance with applicable environmental laws,
regulations and standards.”
“Violating its agreements with Michigan about Line 5 and
keeping pipeline safety data secret even from the state of Michigan violates
Enbridge’s own stated policy of operating responsibly and following the law,”
said Holtz. “Governor Blanchard is not
only in a unique position to protect the Great Lakes from an Enbridge
catastrophe, as an Enbridge board member he is responsible to Enbridge
shareholders for making sure the company stops behaving badly.”
Blanchard was asked to:
- Publicly commit to working within Enbridge, Inc. and its subsidiary, Enbridge Energy Partners, to permanently remove the threat of Enbridge Line 5 through the Straits of Mackinac by ending the flow of oil through the Straits pipelines.
- Require Enbridge to immediately and publicly disclose all pipeline inspection information for Line 5 dating to the pipeline’s construction in 1953.
- Provide immediate access to all information and documents that would allow independent analysis of Enbridge’s pipelines through the Straits.
- Instruct all of Enbridge’s lobbyists, public relations consultants and corporate officials to withdraw from authoring and supporting proposed changes that undermine Michigan’s open records law by making pipeline safety and other vital data secret.
- Require Enbridge to fully comply with the liability requirements of its Easement Agreement with the State of Michigan by providing a “worst case” estimate of potential damages resulting from pipeline ruptures instead of the “conflicting, incomplete, and inadequately supported estimates of its total liability under the Easement,” as the task force report stated.
##
MICHIGAN CHAPTER
Sierra Club Letter to Former Michigan Governor Blanchard
August 4, 2015
Hon.
James J. Blanchard
DLA
Piper LLP
500 Eighth
Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Governor
Blanchard:
We are writing
to you in your capacity as a member of the Board of Directors of Enbridge, Inc.
and Chair of Enbridge’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, which
oversees the company’s environmental stewardship.
Governor, you
are a longtime Enbridge corporate Director and the former Governor of Michigan
so you are no doubt aware of Enbridge’s Line 5 operations through the Straits
of Mackinac and the high risk these pipelines pose to the Great Lakes due to
the potential for a catastrophic oil spill. We know you have a strong
commitment to Michigan and care about the Great Lakes. As an Enbridge Director with fiduciary
responsibility to shareholders and for the corporation’s environmental
stewardship policies, we are bringing to your urgent attention and requesting
immediate action in response to a pattern and practice of Enbridge’s operations
that puts the Great Lakes and Michigan at tremendous risk and violates
Enbridge’s own Corporate Social Responsibility Policy[1]
and Statement on Business Conduct[2].
As you
may know, the Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task Force issued a report[3]
and recommendations on July 14 regarding Enbridge Line 5 through the
Straits. The report noted that “…in light of
the massive 2010 oil releases from Enbridge’s Line 6B near Marshall, Michigan,
the well- documented systemic failures there, the age of the Straits Pipelines,
and location of those pipelines literally in the Great Lakes, there has
been growing public and governmental concern about the Straits Pipelines. Their
location makes them especially critical. Releases of oil from the Straits
Pipelines could have a devastating ecological and economic impact. Water
quality, fisheries, beaches, and the iconic center of Michigan’s tourist
economy would likely all be gravely damaged[4].”
The report
identified crucial areas where Enbridge failed to disclose pipeline safety
information on Line 5 in the Straits, failed to identify critical pipeline
safety threats, failed to maintain legally required pipeline infrastructure and
provided inconsistent information about its liability in the event of a
catastrophic oil spill[5]. Significantly, the state government task
force concluded that Enbridge’s assertions that the 61-year-old Straits
pipelines can be operated indefinitely without replacement plans are
unreasonable[6].
The documentation and conclusions in this task
force report, reflecting the expertise and judgment of the state’s top
environmental, legal and natural resources officials, point to a pattern of
behavior on the part of Enbridge officials that is in conflict with Enbridge’s
corporate environmental stewardship policies and authorized business
practices. Those fall within your area
of responsibility as Chair of Enbridge’s Corporate Social Responsibility
Committee[7].
In Enbridge Inc.’s Statement on Business Conduct,
revised in October, 2012 following the disastrous Enbridge Line 6B pipeline
rupture near Marshall, Michigan, Enbridge pledged itself to the “highest
standards of business conduct” and directed its subsidiaries, including
Enbridge Energy Partners, to “establish and maintain…operations in an
environmentally responsible manner in accordance with applicable environmental
laws, regulations and standards.”
As documented in the task force report, Enbridge’s
failure to comply with the conditions of its 1953 Easement Agreement with the
State of Michigan for Line 5 through the Straits seem to clearly constitute a
breach of appropriate business conduct as defined by Enbridge corporate
business conduct policy adopted in the wake of the Line 6B pipeline
disaster.
As the former Governor of Michigan, current
Enbridge Director and Chair of its Corporate Social Responsibility Committee,
we respectfully request that you consider taking the following steps toward
safeguarding the Great Lakes and putting Enbridge into compliance with its
environmental stewardship and business practices polices:
- Publicly commit to working within Enbridge, Inc. and its subsidiary, Enbridge Energy Partners, to permanently remove the threat of Enbridge Line 5 through the Straits of Mackinac by ending the flow of oil through the Straits pipelines. For Enbridge to act in an environmentally responsible manner it must acknowledge the magnitude of harm to the Great Lakes from a “worst case” pipeline rupture in the Straits and immediately begin eliminating this as a threat.
- Require Enbridge to immediately and publicly disclose all pipeline inspection information for Line 5 dating to the pipeline’s construction in 1953. As the task force reported, “While Enbridge has publicly listed the numbers and types of pipeline inspections that it or its contractors have performed, it has not fully disclosed the actual results of most of the inspections or the limitations of the test methods used[8].” As a result of Enbridge’s failure to disclose this information, there is no opportunity to subject the inspection regime and results to public evaluation and review by experts. Enbridge’s failure to disclose this pipeline safety information as required in its Easement Agreement with the State of Michigan is in conflict with Enbridge policy requiring adherence to environmental laws.
- Provide immediate access to all information and documents that would allow independent analysis of Enbridge’s pipelines through the Straits. As the task force report concluded, “Enbridge has pointed to its use of remotely operated vehicles as a means of verifying the continued integrity of the external coating originally applied to the Straits Pipelines. But Enbridge has failed to acknowledge that much of the Straits Pipelines are now heavily encrusted with invasive quagga and/or zebra mussels and that, where present, make it difficult or impossible to view or photograph the external surface of the pipe. Moreover, Enbridge has not addressed the potential for acidic secretions from these mussels to promote corrosion of metal where the pipeline coating has been compromised. Given Enbridge’s failure to maintain the legally required intervals for pipeline supports during an apparently extended period of time, and the very significant underwater currents at the Straits, there is a need to analyze the resulting stresses on the pipelines and potential impacts to their integrity[9].”
- Instruct all of Enbridge’s lobbyists, public relations consultants and corporate officials to withdraw from authoring and supporting proposed changes that undermine Michigan’s open records law by making pipeline safety and other vital data secret. Weakening Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act to prevent public disclosure of pipeline safety records is inconsistent with the environmental stewardship Enbridge claims its corporate policies support.
- Require Enbridge to fully comply with the liability requirements of its Easement Agreement with the State of Michigan by providing a “worst case” estimate of potential damages resulting from pipeline ruptures instead of the “conflicting, incomplete, and inadequately supported estimates of its total liability under the Easement,” as the task force report stated[10].
Sincerely,
/s/ /s/
David Holtz,
Chair Anne
Woiwode, Director
Michigan Chapter
Executive Committee Michigan
Chapter Conservation
CC: U.S.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow
U.S.
Sen. Gary Peters
Michigan
Attorney General Bill Schuette
Michigan
DEQ Director Dan Wyant
[2]
October 2012 Enbridge Inc. and Its Subsidiaries, Revised Statement on Business
Conduct
http://www.enbridge.com/AboutEnbridge/CorporateSocialResponsibility.aspx
[3]
Michigan Petroleum Task Force Report July, 2015
[4]
Page 43, task force report
[5]
Page 44, task force report
[6]
Page 47, task force report
[8]
Page 44, task force report
[9]
Page 44, task force report
May 27, 2015
News Release: Experts Say High-Risk Mackinac Straits Pipeline Should be Shut Down
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO MEDIA: May 27, 2015
Contacts:
Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director FLOW (For Love of Water)
Gary Street, Former Director of Engineering Dow Environmental – AWD Technologies
Expert Report Released on Mackinac Island: Shut Down Enbridge’s Oil Pipelines in Mackinac Straits Pending a Full Public Review of Potential Harm & Alternatives
Deep concerns over possible corrosion from zebra mussels, outdated pipeline welds & coating
LANSING – The 62-year-old Enbridge oil pipelines running through the Mackinac Straits should be shut down pending a full public review because of structural concerns, including the worry that waste excreted by zebra mussels may have corroded and dangerously weakened the steel pipes, according to a report released today by FLOW at a Mackinac Island press conference by a team of scientists and engineers.
Relying on 1950s technology, the twin oil pipelines also have an outdated protective coating and welds connecting the 40-foot segments that make up the pipelines, and lack the required number of supports to secure the pipes in the powerful currents of the Straits, just west of the Mackinac Bridge, according to the expert team, which was convened by a Great Lakes law and policy group.
“Studies have concluded that excrement from zebra mussels has a corrosive impact on exposed steel,” said Gary Street, former Director of Engineering, Dow Environmental–AWD Technologies, who spoke at the press conference on behalf of the expert team. “And there’s a real concern that bare steel indeed may have become exposed due to friction where the pipelines lie on the shifting sand-and-gravel bottom, and due to possible failure of the pipeline coating generally after more than six decades of use.”
The Enbridge “Line 5” oil pipelines were installed in 1953 and not designed to withstand impacts from zebra mussels, an invasive species carried to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of ocean-going ships decades after the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened to navigation in 1959, the expert team concluded. Underwater video footage (here at the 2:22 mark) captured in 2013 shows the Straits of Mackinac pipelines covered in growth and debris, including zebra mussels. Moreover, unless removed, a process itself that could compromise the pipelines, the encrusted layer of mussels makes external inspection virtually impossible, the experts determined.
The team of experts also found that the “coal tar enamel” coating that protects the exterior of the Line 5 pipelines from corrosion is an “obsolete technology and may have failed locally, resulting in corrosion that has reduced the strength of the assembled pipeline.” Protective coating similar to that on the Straits pipelines has failed elsewhere and resulted in oil spills, including in 2009 with Enbridge’s Line 2 near Odessa, Saskatchewan, which was constructed the same year as Line 5.
“This type of protective coating is not used on oil pipelines anymore because it is prone to failure and has been replaced by better technology,” said Ed Timm, PhD., PE, a former senior scientist and consultant to Dow Chemical’s Environmental Operations Business. “Enbridge simply has not provided data to back up its claims about the safety of Line 5 in the Straits. There should be a full public review relying on independent expertise.”
The expert team – two accomplished engineers and a hazardous materials risk-management specialist – were convened by FLOW, a Traverse City-based Great Lakes law and policy center to consider risks to the Enbridge oil pipelines. Enbridge, which is infamous its Line 6b that corroded and spilled 1 million gallons of heavy oil in 2010 into the Kalamazoo River watershed near Marshall, Michigan, has withheld key data and reports from public scrutiny, the experts found.
“We convened these experts in order to bring key scientific facts and concerns to light,” said Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director of FLOW, an attorney and leader in a statewide campaign of groups, citizens, businesses, tribes, and local governments calling for the governor to conduct a full public assessment under state law – the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act – of the potential harm posed by Line 5 in the Straits and identify alternatives to avoid that harm.
Kirkwood’s organization released the experts’ findings at a press conference today on Mackinac Island. Also attending the news conference were Bruce Wallace, national board chair of the National Wildlife Federation; Aaron Payment, Tribal Chairman, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians; David Holtz, Michigan chair of Sierra Club and Street. The report was submitted April 30 to the Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task Force, which has yet to respond.
“It’s clear from these scientific findings that Line 5 should be shut down and an open, public process immediately begun to consider the best way to avoid a catastrophic oil spill into the Great Lakes, home to 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water. The public has a right to know the risk and to expect leadership from the governor and his task force led by Attorney General Bill Schuette and DEQ Director Dan Wyant,” said Kirkwood, who in late April formally submitted the experts’ findings to the state task force, which is expected this spring to release its recommendations regarding Line 5 and other gas and oil pipelines across the state.
The experts also raised concerns about welds connecting the 40-foot segments that make up the pipelines, noting that the “welding techniques used for Line 5 in 1953 have proven to be less robust than contemplated” and “have been found deficient.” In their report, they cited 16 Enbridge oil spills reported from 2002-2010 from pipelines with a coal tar enamel coating similar to that used on Line 5 in the Straits, with the cause of five of those spills was listed as “weld failure” and two others resulting from “corrosion.”
The expert team also found that Enbridge has failed to install as many as 65 supports required by the state to prevent the pipeline from grinding along the bottom, bending, and potentially failing or breaking at its weld points. In June 2014, Enbridge disclosed it was in violation of the state easement for an unspecified number of years by not installing the required supports every 75 feet along the Straits oil pipelines. , Enbridge sought a “maintenance” permit from the state to install more supports on state‐owned bottomlands. To date, Enbridge has installed only 146 supports of any type – a total of 8 grout bags and mechanical supports, 16 grout bags, and 122 mechanical screw anchors – far short of the approximately 211 supports required, the experts concluded.
The aging Enbridge pipelines push nearly 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids a day through the Straits of Mackinac, which the company uses as a shortcut for its Line 5 route from Superior, Wis., to Sarnia, Ontario. A July 2014 study by the University of Michigan called the Straits “the worst possible place for an oil spill in the Great Lakes" and depicted the prospect of a plume from a million-gallon oil spill in the Straits stretching for 85 miles – from Lake Michigan’s Beaver Island to Mackinac Island to Rogers City down the Lake Huron shore.
Mayor Margaret Doud of Mackinac Island, the mayors of Traverse City and Grand Rapids, and most recently, the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners have sent formal letters to the governor calling for state action on the oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac.
For more information, visit the FLOW website:
May 5, 2015
New Michigan Pipeline Secrecy Bill Criticized
New Michigan Pipeline Secrecy Bill Slammed;
Industry Proposal Would Hide Safety Records
Legislation Would Conceal Pipeline Inspections, Put Great Lakes At Risk
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Media Contacts: David Holtz, Sierra Club, 313-300-4454
Nic Clark, Clean Water Action 231-313-2605
LANSING—Citizens groups sharply criticized proposed legislation introduced today that would permanently block public access to pipeline safety records in Michigan, including for high-risk pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac operated by the controversial Canadian oil conglomerate Enbridge, Inc.
The sweeping bill, House Bill 4540, which would amend Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, goes beyond federal rules governing pipeline records disclosure. It would exempt virtually all oil and natural gas pipeline information from public disclosure and is being sought by Enbridge, responsible in 2010 for the nation’s largest inland oil spill near Kalamazoo.
“Enbridge has a questionable safety record and desperately wants to keep critically important pipeline safety information from the public,” said Nic Clark,Michigan Director of Clean Water Action. “This bill exploits the public’s legitimate concerns over national security to cloak the real purpose for Enbridge, which is to keep secret its safety and other records.”
Enbridge’s twin Line 5 pipelines through the Straits of Mackinac have been the subject of intense public interest since it was revealed in early 2014 that the Eisenhower-era lines pose a serious threat to the Great Lakes and northern Michigan communities and businesses. A special task force of state officials assembled last June is expected to issue a report this month on the pipelines. The Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task Force, however, has been meeting behind closed doors, releasing only press releases and presentations. Meanwhile, Enbridge and the task force have kept most documents secret under an elaborate arrangement involving a password-protected website fashioned by Enbridge.
“Enbridge wants a blanket exemption from disclosing critical pipeline safety records and that’s not acceptable,” said Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director ofFLOW, a water policy and education center based in Traverse City. “At any moment, a pipeline spill could contaminate the Great Lakes and collapse the northern Michigan tourist economy. We need to know more, not less, about the safety of Enbridge’s pipelines and all pipelines in Michigan.”
The proposed legislation was introduced today by state Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth). An Enbridge lobbyist has been working behind the scenes in recent weeks to line up support to exempt pipelines from Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, which requires public disclosure of most public records.
“What Michigan needs is more transparency about the pipeline’s safety, potential harm, and alternative routes, not less,” said David Holtz, Chair of the Michigan Chapter of Sierra Club. “Pipelines leak, and as we saw in Kalamazoo, when there’s a breach, it can be catastrophic. Yet Enbridge refuses to release any documents related to pipeline inspections and now wants the State of Michigan to sanction that secrecy.”
Enbridge’s efforts to close off access to pipeline safety documents through an exemption to Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act comes on the heels of a report revealing that a two-year-old pipeline operated in Missouri by TransCanada suffered major corrosion, with 95% corrosion in one section of the pipe. The report was based on documents obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
“In Missouri you have a 21st Century pipeline that had to be shut down and the only reason we know the details is because the law required the documents to be released publicly,” said Jim Lively, Program Director, Michigan Land Use Institute. “In Michigan we have pipelines running through the Great Lakes, under extremely volatile conditions, and these pipelines were constructed in 1953 during an era where color television was the newest technology. Yet Enbridge wants to keep the safety of these pipelines secret.”
Thousands of Michigan residents and visitors have signed a petition urging Governor Rick Snyder to order open public hearings on the oil pipelines in the Straits and alternatives to eliminate the risk of a catastrophic spill.
“We expect openness and transparency,” said Peggy Case, President of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation. “What we are getting from Enbridge in this proposed legislation is defiance.”
##
January 15, 2015
News Release: Federal Lawsuit Targets Enbridge Pipeline in Michigan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE More Information:
Thursday, January 15, 2015 Marvin Roberson 906-360-0288Sierra Club Lawsuit Targets Massive Oil Pipeline
First-Ever Environmental Review Sought for 60-Year-Old Michigan Pipeline
LANSING, MI—A federal permit decision allowing a controversial decades-old pipeline to operate in Michigan while bypassing scrutiny under a federal environmental law is being challenged in federal court by the Sierra Club, the organization announced today.
The Sierra Club filed suit today against the U.S. Forest Service to block a federal permit required to operate the controversial Enbridge Line 5 pipeline, which travels through Michigan from Superior, WI to Sarnia, Ontario. A small leak in the pipeline along an Upper Peninsula stretch was the focus of recent attention and points to the potential threat posed by a 60-year-old pipeline that has never been subject to rigorous environmental review. The pipeline travels through the Huron-Manistee National Forest, requiring a permit from the forest service.
“We want the court to simply require the Forest Service to use the same standards for environmental analysis as for any other project of this type and magnitude,” said Anne Woiwode, Conservation Director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. "It is indefensible for the federal government to say that no environmental analysis is needed for a pipeline carrying a half-million barrels of oil a day across the Great Lakes, through a national forest , and under numerous sensitive areas.”
The pipeline carries oil from Wisconsin to Ontario, crossing under sensitive areas near the Au Sable River and under the Mackinac Straits. The Forest Service issued a permit in December, using an administrative procedure in an attempt to bypass more stringent study and analysis typically required under the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Bay City, is the first legal challenge to the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline along its entire length (nearly 1,100 miles), and the only formal request for an environmental analysis under NEPA. The pipeline has been in operation since 1953, and has never undergone federal environmental analysis. It has operated across Forest Service lands without a valid permit since January 2013.
Charlie Weaver, a Sierra Club member and professional river guide on the Au Sable, said he believes the Forest Service needs to study the potential impacts of the pipeline before granting a new permit.
“It’s hard to fathom the reasoning which allows an oil pipeline under a river like the Au Sable without any studies regarding the safety of the pipeline or what the effects of a rupture would be on the river,” said Weaver.
Thomas Buhr is a Sierra Club leader who lives in close proximity to the pipeline and the Au Sable River.
“The Au Sable River is a crown jewel of cold water streams not just in Michigan, but the country,” said Buhr. “An oil spill of any type would be a sin. Let's use an ounce of prevention because the pound of cure would be costly with no guarantee of success.”
The Sierra Club is represented by noted environmental attorney Marianne Dugan. Ms. Dugan represented the Sierra Club in its successful suit to stop oil drilling near the Mason Tract area of the Au Sable. Ms. Dugan has litigated issues in this field for over 20 years.
“I’m a little amazed that regulators and the industry are repeatedly so cavalier about allowing industrial petroleum activity so close to a river like the Au Sable,” said Dugan.
Enbridge, a Canadian Limited Partnership, is one of the largest petroleum pipeline companies in the world. It is also the owner of Line 6B, which gushed almost a million gallons from a pipeline leak into the Kalamazoo River watershed in southwest Michigan in 2010. This was the largest inland oil spill in Midwest U.S. history, and is already the costliest onshore spill cleanup in U.S. history, with cleanup efforts still underway. Using data from Enbridge's own reports, the Polaris Institute has calculated that 804 spills occurred on Enbridge pipelines between 1999 and 2010, releasing about 161,000 barrels (25,000 cubic meters) of crude oil into the environment.
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December 17, 2014
Sierra Club Calls for Federal, State Action In Wake of New Enbridge Pipeline Leak
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE More information: David Holtz - 313-300-4454
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Sierra Club Calls for Federal, State Action In Wake of New Enbridge Pipeline Leak
Statement of Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair David Holtz on Today's Enbridge Pipeline Leak Disclosure
“The announcement today that a “pinhole leak” was found in the Enbridge Line 5 in the Upper Peninsula underscores the urgency of federal and state agencies scrutinizing potential environmental threats posed by this sixty year old pipeline as it crosses our public lands. Enbridge Line 5 carries oil products from Michigan’s border with Wisconsin to Ontario, crossing under state and national public lands as well as inland rivers, the St. Clair River and the Straits of Mackinac. However, there has never been an environmental review under state or federal laws about the impact a spill or break would pose to our air, land and water.
“In Michigan, where the largest inland oil spill ever occurred when Enbridge Line 6B contaminated Marshall and the Kalamazoo River, we know that industry assurances that these pipelines are perfectly safe are meaningless without rigorous, scientific review of the environmental effects. This small leak is a wake-up call that demands immediate action by our federal and state land management and environmental agencies to publicly disclose the full extent of potential environmental threats posed by this pipeline, and open a long overdue public debate about whether the threat to our state’s waters and land are too great a risk to take."
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September 15, 2014
Gov. Snyder Should Act On Great Lakes Oil Spill Threat
For Immediate Release: Monday, Sept. 15, 2014
Contact:
David Holtz, Sierra Club
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.
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May 23, 2014
Hundreds of Gallons of Oil Spill in Jackson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2014
Contact: Marissa Luna, 989-798-3051, marissa@engagemichigan.org
Hundreds of Gallons of Oil Spill in Jackson
Underscores the need for stormwater infrastructure investments
JACKSON – Recently, 800 gallons of motor oil and hydraulic fluid spilled into the city of Jackson storm sewer system and some made its way into the Grand River. Local officials were alerted about the spill on Sunday night, and clean up efforts began on Monday. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials arrived on the scene on Wednesday, but neither local nor federal authorities know where the spill originated or if there is more oil harming other areas of the river.
“Sunday's spill underscores the risks posed to vital waterways like our Grand River when we fail to make adequate investments in local stormwater infrastructure,” said Derek Dobies, vice mayor of Jackson. “Initiatives like Clean Jackson that focus on making crucial updates to our stormwater system will help our city better prepare for these types of incidents and protect the Grand River for future generations to enjoy.”
Just over a year ago, in April 2013, 300 to 500 gallons of oil leaked into the Grand River in Lansing due to an equipment malfunction at the Lansing Board of Water & Light.
“Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that oil has spilled into the Grand River,” said Nic Clark, Michigan director of Clean Water Action. “I agree with the Vice Mayor, we need to pursue an all of the above strategy to protect our water that includes investment in green infrastructure stormwater design, renewable energy, and pipeline safety.”
In the past decade, there has been a substantial $27 million decrease in investment in the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s (MDEQ) general fund appropriations. Cuts to the MDEQ budget mean that communities like Jackson can’t make needed investments in infrastructure projects to control storm water runoff.
“Just last month Lt. Governor Brian Calley signed legislation giving more tax breaks to corporate oil,” said Mike Berkowitz, legislative and political director for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. “Rather than providing tax giveaways to oil companies while they pollute our water and make record profits, our elected leaders should be making greater investments in the MDEQ to ensure that the Grand River and our Great Lakes are protected from pollution.”
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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 the environment and build prosperity. Follow the campaign at CleanEnergyNowMI.org.
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