Enbridge’s Line 5 Oil Tunnel Permit Fails State's First Test

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Return to Sender: 

Enbridge’s Line 5 Oil Tunnel

Permit Fails State's First Test

Numerous Problems Cited,

Need To Analyze Other Options

LANSING--State regulators this week turned back Enbridge’s application for a permit to build a Line 5 oil tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac, saying the Canadian oil transport giant failed to evaluate other alternatives under Michigan’s environmental laws. 

The decision to send the oil tunnel permit request back to Enbridge because it was incomplete--although not a death knell for the controversial project--was applauded by legal experts and environmental organizations.The setback to Enbridge’s plans may also be an important signal that the administration of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants to take a closer look at the threat of oil pipelines in the Great Lakes and their damage to the climate.  

In its letter to Enbridge rejecting the permit application, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) cited Enbridge’s failure to analyze alternatives to the proposed oil tunnel under Michigan’s Environmental Protection Act. Enbridge will have 30 days to resubmit the permit application or it will be considered withdrawn, according to the EGLE letter.

“The Whitmer administration’s decisions on Line 5 will likely define her environmental record as much as anything else she does as governor,” said Sean McBrearty, Oil & Water Don’t Mix coordinator. “This initial step means EGLE isn’t just rubber-stamping Enbridge’s permit application but will apply appropriate environmental standards in making the decision. The burden is now on Enbridge to prove why Michigan and the Great Lakes should shoulder the huge risk of having Line 5 oil pipelines in the Great Lakes and crossing 400 other waterways. We don’t think that’s a hurdle Enbridge can overcome. Line 5 and oil are not the future -- water is, and an oil tunnel in the Great Lakes is a bad bet for Michigan.”

Kate Madigan, Director of the Michigan Climate Action Network, said the Whitmer administration should evaluate climate impacts of the proposed oil tunnel.  

“The Michigan Environmental Protection Act requires the state to consider the climate impacts of a new oil pipeline project. It would be disastrous for our state to allow an oil pipeline that is proposed to last 99 years at a time when scientists urge us to cut all climate emissions in half this decade and much of the world is turning away from fossil fuels,” said Madigan. “We know Michigan doesn’t need Line 5. We shouldn’t be taking a huge environmental and financial risk when there are more reliable, cleaner, safer energy sources out there and when the oil industry is an increasingly bad financial bet.”

EGLE’s three-page letter to Enbridge outlined other failures of the company’s submission, including the fact that in its 350-page permit application Enbridge does not acknowledge that the future of its Line 5 oil pipeline is the subject of legal challenges, including a lawsuit seeking by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel seeking an orderly decommissioning of Line 5.

“We agree with EGLE that Enbridge’s application falls woefully short of complying with legal requirements,” said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of FLOW, a Great Lakes law and policy center based in Traverse City. “Now the state of Michigan should require Enbridge to apply for and obtain authorization for an easement to occupy state-owned bottomlands with a tunnel before any construction permitting proceeds. Enbridge is putting the cart before the horse, which suits their interests, but not the public interest in protecting the Great Lakes. The company’s haphazard rush during the pandemic is alarming.”

Michigan's tribal community responded to EGLE's action on Enbridge's permit by spotlighting the stakes involved in the final outcome.

"Protecting Michigan's environment from the threat of Line 5 is more than just protecting the rights of tribal fishing and tribal way of life. We must shut down Line 5 to protect the health and safety of Michigan's families, wildlife and an international economy based on the Great Lakes," said Bryan Newland, president of Bay Mills Indian Community. "Our decisions must be made to protect our natural resources, putting our environment and people above profits and pipelines.

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Oil & Water Don’t Mix is a broad campaign of organizations, citizens and businesses across Michigan who are working to keep oil out of our Great Lakes by shutting down the dangerous Line 5 Pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. The campaign fights for clean water and air, Indigenous rights, reducing pollution, sustainable economies and protecting sporting, tourism, and jobs that are dependent on our water and Pure Michigan way of life.  Learn more at www.oilandwaterdontmix.org.

Oil & Water Don’t Mix Steering Committee

Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, Clean Water Action, For Love of Water, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, League of Women Voters of Michigan, Michigan Environmental Council, Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, Sierra Club, Straits of Mackinac Alliance, Straits Area Concerned Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, Sunrise Movement, TC350

Court Ruling On Enbridge Line 5 Leaves Great Lakes At Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Sean McBrearty, Campaign Coordinator, Oil & Water Don’t Mix

The Court of Claims ruling that Public Act 359 of 2018 establishing a tunnel authority is legal does not change the fact that Enbridge’s Line 5 pipelines continue to pose an unacceptable risk to the Great Lakes and Michigan’s economy.   

Given that the future of the Great Lakes is at stake immediate review and action by Governor Whitmer and her administration is required. Because the previous administration of former Gov. Snyer attempted to contract away the rule of law, a legal appeal of today’s ruling on the proposed tunnel deal for  Enbridge Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac by the Michigan Court of Claims is particularly critical and necessary. 

Today’s decision is disappointing because it momentarily allows the deal for a new tunnel in the Straits to make its way through the many authorizations and permits requires to be placed in the public trust soils under the Great Lakes.  The decision does nothing to address and protect the Great Lakes from these dangerous, corroding, dented 66-year-old pipelines.  Enbridge’s pipelines will continue transporting 23 million gallons of oil a day through the Straits, even as the most dangerous time of year approaches when gales and ice cover in the Straits makes oil spill response in the event of a Line 5 rupture or leak impossible. Enbridge would like everyone to think that a Straits oil tunnel is the solution to the problem of their dangerous pipelines.  But they have refused to even commit to constructing a tunnel or submit it for normal review under Michigan law and walked away from negotiations with the governor after she reasonably demanded that any tunnel must be constructed within two years.

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Sierra Club Responds to Today’s Line 5 Enbridge Lawsuit

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Media Contact:   Anne Woiwode (517)-974-2112

    

Sierra Club Responds to Today’s Line 5 Enbridge Lawsuit

LANSING, MI--In response to a lawsuit filed today against Enbridge in Wisconsin, Sierra Club said the potential court-ordered shutdown of Line 5 there means any negotiations for an Enbridge Line 5 oil tunnel in Michigan would only end up increasing the risk of a pipeline rupture in the Great Lakes.   

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed suit against Enbridge to force the decommissioning and removal of the Line 5 pipeline from the tribe’s reservation.  The action followed two years of failed mediation talks between the tribe and Enbridge and six years of Enbridge’s unauthorized operation of Line 5 following the expiration of its easement agreement the Bad River Band.

“The takeaway from today’s development should be for Governor Gretchen Whitmer to immediately drop any thought of a proposed oil tunnel or other action focused on keeping Line 5 operating in the Great Lakes and as a risk to Michigan,” said Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair.  “Delay is not our friend and the oil tunnel is not a solution to protecting the Great Lakes and other Michigan waterways from a Line 5 spill.”

Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline in Wisconsin runs across 12 miles of sensitive habitat in the Bad River Reservation.  Enbridge has continued to operate the pipeline for six years since easements allowing it to maintain the Reservation right-of-way expired in 2013, and today’s action seeks to bring the company’s unauthorized presence to an end.

“We have seen in Wisconsin how Enbridge has dragged out a lengthy process that left the Bad River watershed at extreme risk from an aged Line 5 pipeline.  With so much at stake, Michigan can’t chase Enbridge’s oil tunnel vision because there is no end in sight that protects the Great Lakes, “ said Woiwode. “This only reinforces the need for support of Attorney General Dana Nessel’s legal action to begin the process of decommissioning Line 5 in Michigan.”

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The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, 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.

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Anne Woiwode, chair 

Sierra Club Michigan Chapter

Conservation Policy Committee

anne.woiwode@michigan.sierraclub.org 

https://www.sierraclub.org/michigan

https://www.facebook.com/SierraClubMichigan/

Tell Gov. Whitmer: Don't Negotiate on Line 5 Tunnel!

PROTECTION OF THE GREAT LAKES IS NOT NEGOTIABLE

Gov. Whitmer and Enbridge are reportedly planning to discuss the future of Line 5, and possibly speed up the building of a new oil tunnel.  Protection of the Great Lakes is not negotiable and we are counting on Gov. Whitmer to protect the Great Lakes.  If discussions go forward we strongly urge the governor to reverse the pattern of backroom, sweetheart deals.  Governor Whitmer must focus her efforts on a transparent process that will lead to decommissioning Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. 

An oil tunnel to carry Enbridge’s Canadian oil is not a good solution for Michigan. 

A tunnel would leave at risk of an oil spill along 400 inland waters and dozens of  miles of Lake Michigan shoreline along which Line 5 runs in Michigan. Moreover, leading scientists have warned that to avoid the worst impacts of climate change we must rapidly move off of fossil fuels. 

Allowing Enbridge to build a tunnel and extend the life of Line 5 even more is the very opposite of what our state should be doing on climate. There are alternatives to Line 5 that do not require building a new oil pipeline, and independent studies commissioned by the State have confirmed these are viable options that would better protect Michigan’s waters and climate. 

Please contact Governor Whitmer TODAY and let her know:

PROTECTION OF THE GREAT LAKES IS NOT NEGOTIABLE AND WE ARE COUNTING ON GOVERNOR WHITMER TO PROTECT THE GREAT LAKES FROM THE THREAT OF AN OIL SPILL - SHUT DOWN LINE 5 NOW!

Phone: https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/call_whitmer_no_tunnel
Online: https://somgovweb.state.mi.us/GovRelations/ShareOpinion.aspx 
Twitter: @GovWhitmer
US Mail: Governor Gretchen Whitmer, P.O. Box 30013, Lansing, Michigan 48909

FLOW, Bay Mills Tribe, and Oil & Water Don't Mix Ask: Are Michigan’s Residents, Communities, and Businesses Insured if Line 5 Fails in the Straits?

FOR IMMEDIATERELEASE:
February 7, 2019

Contacts:

Skip Pruss, Board Chair, FLOW (For Love of Water), (517) 930-4426, pruss@5lakesenergy.com 

Bryan Newland, Tribal Chairman, Bay Mills Indian Community, (906) 248-8100, bnewland@baymills.org 

David Holtz, Communications Coordinator, Oil & Water Don’t Mix, (313) 300-4454, david@davidholtz.org 

FLOW, Bay Mills Tribe, and O&WDM Ask: Are Michigan’s Residents, Communities, and Businesses Insured if Line 5 Fails in the Straits?

Investigation Reveals Critical Omissions and Finds Pipeline Might be Uninsurable

Traverse City, Mich. – If the 66-year-old Enbridge Line 5 pipelines fail in the Straits of Mackinac, residents, coastal communities, businesses, and the State of Michigan could be left with lasting environmental and economic damage and little or no hope for insurance coverage from pipeline-owner Enbridge for the oil spill, according to environmental and tribal organizations in a teleconference held today.

Michigan citizens may believe they are protected, at least at some level, by the insurance Enbridge should be required to have in place to pay the costs of cleaning up an oil spill disaster in the Straits, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. Unfortunately, that may not be the case. 

A new FLOW investigation has revealed potential holes in Michigan’s financial protections against a Line 5 pipeline rupture into the Great Lakes. The potential shortcomings could prove ruinous to communities, residents, and businesses that suffer losses at the hands of a Line 5 oil spill in the Straits. The problems can be traced to last year when environmental regulators were largely sidelined by the Snyder administration, which negotiated four Line 5 agreements directly with Line 5-owner Enbridge from the executive offices of the governor. (See FLOW’s article about the investigation here.)

“The findings of our study suggest that Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipelines in the Straits may never have been adequately insured and – given their age, location, and impaired condition – might be uninsurable,” said Skip Pruss, chairman of FLOW’s board of directors and an energy policy expert. “In its haste to sign agreements with Enbridge, the state during the end of the Snyder administration failed to conduct a study that would evaluate the financial capacity of Enbridge to address a worst-case scenario for damages and claims that may result from an existing Line 5 failure.”

The new revelations come as Governor Gretchen Whitmer has issued an executive order and new directives aimed at strengthening the state’s regulatory and administrative oversight capabilities for the Great Lakes, although Republican legislators are seeking to overturn the governor’s order in favor of delegating oversight in part to the businesses being regulated by the state.  

Unlike leaders in Minnesota and Wisconsin dealing with Enbridge, there is no evidence that the State of Michigan conducted a risk management and insurance review of any kind, nor does it appear that the State sought any assistance from qualified experts to determine whether the financial assurances Enbridge has proffered would, in fact, protect the State of Michigan and its natural resources as well as coastal communities, citizens, property owners, and businesses.

“While no amount of money can restore an oil-damaged fishery, the freshwater of the Great Lakes, or our cultural heritage, it simply is a dereliction of duty for the Snyder administration to not ensure that Enbridge has insurance that specifically covers oil spill damage and those tribes, communities, families, and businesses that would be harmed for generations to come,” said Bryan Newland, Tribal Chairman of the Bay Mills Indian Community.

A preliminary review raises many questions regarding the adequacy of Enbridge’s financial assurances that are supposed to mitigate the economic harm if Line 5 fails. Findings include that Enbridge’s:

·         General Liability insurance may not cover oil spill clean-up costs, natural resources damages and claims by injured third-parties.

·         Financial assurances are capped at $1.878 billion dollars, far less that the $6.3 billion estimate of worst-case damages determined by a study by Michigan State University, and a potential $45 billion loss to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product in after just 15 days from disrupting Great Lakes commercial shipping and steel production.

·         Enbridge Inc., the parent company, is not a signatory to the agreement relating to financial assurances; instead three Enbridge subsidiaries signed the agreement.  It is unknown whether these subsidiaries are insured.

·         The State of Michigan may not be named as an “additional insured” on the insurance policies.  If not, then the State of Michigan would have no direct right of recovery against an insurer. 

Based upon the preliminary review of the financial assurances intended to mitigate the present economic risks posed by a Line 5 failure and the ensuing questions and issues that have been identified by FLOW and independent insurance experts, the State of Michigan should:

·         Retain qualified experts to determine the adequacy of Enbridge’s financial assurances and to make appropriate recommendations regarding mitigating the magnitude of the financial risks posed by Line 5;

·         Determine to what extent the State of Michigan is bound by the indefinite and inadequate terms and provisions of the “Second Agreement;” 

·         Require Enbridge, Inc., to name the State of Michigan as an “additional insured” and/or “named insured” on its insurance coverage for Line 5; and

·         Seek the termination of operation of Line 5 until all financial assurance deficiencies are fully cured and satisfied.

“We are calling on the Whitmer Administration to investigate the apparent lack of insurance for an Enbridge Line 5 oil spill in the Straits and address the damage done by Snyder and lame-duck lawmakers before they rushed out the exit doors at the close of 2018, said David Holtz, Communications Coordinator, Oil & Water Don’t Mix. “It’s past time to shut down Line 5 before its delivers a direct hit to the very heart of the Great Lakes and the Pure Michigan economy.”

About FLOW and Oil & Water Don’t Mix: FLOW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Traverse City, Michigan, working to protect the common waters of the Great Lakes Basin through public trust solutions. FLOW is a leading legal and scientific voice, and a founding steering committee member of the broad-based, multi-year Oil & Water Don’t Mix (O&WDM) campaign dedicated to preventing a catastrophic oil spill from the decaying Line 5 pipelines that push 6 billion gallons of oil a year through the open waters of the Straits of Mackinac – the very heart of the Great Lakes. Learn more at www.FLOWforWater.org and www.OilandWaterDontMix.org.

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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.

Line 5 Retirement Party

Environmental Leaders Criticize Snyder-Enbridge Deal on Line 5

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, November 27, 2017

Media Contacts:   Liz Kirkwood  570-872-4956/ liz@flowforwater.org

                                 Anne Woiwode 517-974-2112/ tawoiwode@gmail.com

Key citizens groups leading the campaign to protect the Great Lakes from an oil spill reacted to the announcement of a new agreement by the state with Enbridge Energy Partners on its controversial Line 5 oil pipelines by criticizing a key portion of the deal that potentially allows Enbridge to continue operating in the Straits of Mackinac. 

“Nothing short of ending the flow of oil through the Straits will protect the Great Lakes from a catastrophic spill,” said Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director of FLOW.  “It’s remarkable given Enbridge’s pattern and practice of lying to the state about Line 5’s condition that the governor is now trusting Enbridge to abide by a new agreement.  This puts the future of the Great Lakes in the hands of Enbridge.” 

Measures announced today by the governor that would temporarily shut down Line 5 during some severe storm events and implement more safety measures for the pipeline should be interim measures taken until Line 5 is decommissioned by the state, the groups said. 

“Putting in more technology to ensure we find out sooner when Line 5 ruptures is not the same as protecting the Great Lakes,” said Anne Woiwode, Conservation Chair for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.  “These are good steps but they are only band-aids and we are concerned that instead of protecting the Great Lakes they will be seen as permanent solutions. They are not.”

“Moreover, it is imprudent and arbitrary for the Governor to unilaterally sign a deal with Enbridge before the legal processes and evidence including the opinion of experts on all sides have been thoroughly reviewed and completed,” said Jim Olson, environmental attorney and President of FLOW. “Governor Snyder appears to have prematurely ignored and violated his own executive order, law, rules and once more ignored his public trust duties toward the Great Lakes, water, public health and safety, and the protection of citizens.”

On Nov. 16 the Great Lakes Resource Committee of Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority (CORA), representing five Michigan Native American tribes, came out in opposition to replacing Line 5 in the Straits with a tunneled pipelines, saying it would not eliminate risks of an oil spill in the Straits area waters within the boundaries of an 1836 treaty protecting their fishing rights. CORA is comprised of representatives of the Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band Of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

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Erosion of Line 5 enamel coating another clear sign of grave risk posed by aging pipelines

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, August 30, 2017

CONTACT: David Holtz, Oil & Water Don’t Mix, (313) 300-4454

Erosion of Line 5 enamel coating another clear sign of grave risk posed by aging pipelines 

Oil & Water Don’t Mix: State must step in where Enbridge won’t, and shut down Line 5

LANSING – Citizens groups today said Enbridge Energy’s acknowledgment of enamel erosion in three areas of the Line 5 pipelines is yet another signal that the aging pipelines have been improperly maintained, posing a daily threat to the Great Lakes and Michigan’s economy.  Oil & Water Don’t Mix called for the State of Michigan to go beyond calling only for repairs to the enamel, and shut down the aging pipelines due to their unacceptable risk to the Great Lakes.

“Nearly every detail that comes to light about Line 5 points to decades of negligence on the part of Enbridge Energy, and today’s revelation that enamel coating is wearing off the pipelines simply adds to the long list of unacceptable risks Line 5 poses to Michigan,” said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of For Love of Water (FLOW). “Given their track record of negligence, we can’t trust Enbridge Energy to give us the whole story, maintain the pipelines or ensure every possible safeguard against a catastrophic Great Lakes oil spill. Rather than calling only for repairs of the coating, the State of Michigan must shut down Line 5 due to the unacceptable risk posed to our state.”

Kirkwood also said continuing violations of Enbridge’s Line 5 easement agreement should compel state officials to begin the process of decommissioning the controversial pipelines in the Straits.

A stakeholder email sent by an Enbridge official today read, in part: “Results from the August aquatic organism study will not be available for several weeks following the completion of the study; however, during the course of the associated inspection of the pipelines enamel coating, Enbridge has confirmed two locations containing small areas where there is pipeline without coating. A third location also has a possible small area of bare metal which is still being evaluated."

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Oil & Water Don’t Mix is a broad campaign of organizations, citizens and businesses across Michigan who are working to keep oil out of our Great Lakes by shutting down the dangerous, 64-year-old Line 5 Pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. The campaign fights for clean water and air, Indigenous rights, reducing pollution, sustainable economies and protecting sporting, tourism and jobs that are dependent on our water and Pure Michigan way of life. Learn more at www.oilandwaterdontmix.org.

Washtenaw County Road Commission Accuses Nexus Pipeline of “Bullying” Tactics

Complaint submitted to FERC urges denial of Nexus application

August 11, 2017

Contact:  Nancy Shiffler, (734) 971-1157  nshiffler@comcast.net

Lansing, MI – Just as a US Senate confirmation vote re-established a quorum on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Washtenaw County Road Commission Managing Director, Roy Townsend, submitted a comment letter to FERC urging the commission to deny the current application for the Nexus natural gas pipeline.  The proposed pipeline route runs through Ohio and into Michigan’s Lenawee, Monroe and Washtenaw County.

The letter notes Nexus’ refusal to honor the County’s safety, operational, and maintenance concerns for the numerous roads the pipeline would cross: “Nexus also insists on creating driveway access points at improper, unsafe locations, even where nearby, safe locations exist, and in violation of all published safety standards.”   While noting the company’s claims that a FERC certificate would allow it to pre-empt and override local regulations, Townsend states, “Nexus repeatedly and vastly overstates the breadth of pre-emption, to the point of literally claiming Nexus can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants.”  The full text of the letter can be found at
http://elibrary.FERC.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20170807-5069

The Road Commission is not alone in receiving this kind of treatment from Nexus.  Kathy Schoen, owner of Washtenaw County farmland along the proposed pipeline route, states, “This is the same kind of arrogant and dismissive treatment landowners and local communities have received for their safety and property concerns.  Nexus does and says whatever it takes to get what they want.”

The Road Commission letter also addresses the issues of road clean up and repair:  “Most shockingly, Nexus has refused any responsibility even to assure that our public roads are cleaned up and repaired after Nexus’ construction is completed.”  The Road Commission’s concerns about road damage are well founded considering the collapse of M-50 in Lenawee County during Energy Transfer Partner’s construction of the Rover pipeline.

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Canada chooses to ignore Line 5 risk, omits dangerous pipeline from new report

Canada chooses to ignore Line 5 risk, omits dangerous pipeline from new report

Canadian agency removes any reference to Line 5 risk from key environmental planning report

LANSING – Oil & Water Don’t Mix voiced concern today that the Government of Canada omitted the massive risk posed by Enbridge Energy’s 64-year-old Line 5 pipelines from its Lakewide Action and Management Plan (LAMP), a comprehensive plan for restoring and protecting Lake Huron.

“It is clear that Canada is committed to maximizing profits for Canadian oil companies by skirting the facts about the Line 5 pipelines, regardless of the devastating impact of a Line 5 oil spill on our Great Lakes,” said David Holtz, chair of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and campaign coordinator forOil & Water Don’t Mix. “Michiganders bear all the risk of an oil spill while Canada keeps pumping oil through the aging pipelines, which is why we’re counting on Attorney General Schuette to stand up for Michiganders and shut down Line 5.”

The 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the United States requires both governments to work together to develop a protection plan for each of the Great Lakes that identifies threats to each lake. 

Environment and Climate Change Canada, a Canadian government agency, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are responsible for developing the LAMPs.  The draft report that omits Enbridge Line 5, follows a letter sent last week from the Ontario Minister of Energy to the state of Michigan requesting Gov. Rick Snyder keep oil flowing through Line 5 – a clear sign that Canada is working hard to keep Line 5 pumping, no matter the risk to Michigan.

The deadline for public comment on the Lake Huron plan is Sept. 5. Comments can be submitted at https://binational.net/2017/07/21/lhlamp-pddplh/.

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Oil & Water Don’t Mix is a broad campaign of organizations, citizens and businesses across Michigan who are working to keep oil out of our Great Lakes by shutting down the dangerous, 64-year-old Line 5 Pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. The campaign fights for clean water and air, Indigenous rights, reducing pollution, sustainable economies and protecting sporting, tourism and jobs that are dependent on our water and Pure Michigan way of life.

Learn more at www.oilandwaterdontmix.org.