The post below commemorates the tragic anniversary of one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history: 1.1 million gallons of oil from Enbridge Line 6B contaminated 35 miles of our Kalamazoo River after it took Enbridge’s remote control room 18 hours to begin to take action on the spill. Any of us with experience in manufacturing or process industries can understand how this can happen in a corporate environment that prioritizes profits over environment, safety, and appropriate spill response training for their workers.
Did you know that today, Enbridge operates Line 5, an oil pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac, exposed on the lake bottom, despite the State of Michigan revoking their easement and ordering it to be shut down? Based on the stated capacity of 540,000 barrels per day, as much as 22.7 million gallons per day (!) of crude oil and natural gas liquids flow under our pristine Straits, just west of the Mackinac Bridge.
Line 5 runs from Superior, Wisconsin across our Michigan Upper Peninsula, across the Straits, and southeast across the Lower Peninsula to Marysville, and then across the St. Clair River to Sarnia, Ontario.
Outside the Straits, Line 5 has failed at least 33 times since 1968, spilling over 1 million gallons of oil in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Line 5 was designed to last 50 years. It is 71 years old.
It is not uncommon for vessels in the Straits to drag anchor during difficult weather and currents. Line 5 has been struck, dented, and gouged multiple times.
Enbridge’s proposed solution is to build an ill-advised tunnel under the Straits to house a replacement pipeline. That proposed solution is several years away, if it is ever actually completed.
Line 5 is not needed. Recent industry studies have determined that Line 5 shutdown poses no energy security risks to Wisconsin, Michigan, the US, or Canada - instead, its continuation is solely for the corporate benefit of Enbridge.
Please consider collaborating with organizations such as FLOW (For Love of Water), Oil & Water Don’t Mix, and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, and lend your voice to help shut down Line 5 for good in order to remove the threat of a catastrophic oil spill in our Great Lakes.
July 25, 2024 marked the 14th anniversary of one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history. On July 25, 2010, a pipeline operated by Enbridge – the same corporation operating the risky Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac – burst and released dirty tar sands oil into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River.
Enbridge paid more than $177 million in penalties and was required to improve safety measures. The estimated cost of the cleanup was more than $1 billion.
Enbridge recently came under further scrutiny, as in July 2024 the US Department of Justice proposed modifications to its consent decree with Enbridge. The proposed modifications would require Enbridge to reassess previously identified cracks in the Lakehead pipeline system – of which Line 5 is a part.
Read more: https://lnkd.in/gsSzDMsc
Sales Director JF Petroleum Group
2moI’m excited about the opening of our new branch in the Jackson market. We’re eager to serve all our MS customers with a great staff.