Michigan, Enbridge agree on timeline for oil pipelines’ future
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian oil transport company Enbridge announced a timeline Monday for determining the future of twin pipelines beneath the channel where lakes Huron and Michigan converge.
Options include shutting down the lines or routing them through a tunnel beneath the lake bed where they now rest.
The plan calls for reaching a final agreement by Aug. 15 on the pipes beneath the Straits of Mackinac, a 5-mile-long scenic waterway with high value to the tourist industry and Great Lakes environment.
They are part of Enbridge’s Line 5, which carries nearly 23 million gallons of oil and liquid natural gas daily across northern Wisconsin and Michigan to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario.
The company has repeatedly insisted the underwater segment installed in 1953 is in good condition and has never leaked. However, state officials and environmental groups have expressed alarm over recent disclosures of gaps in its exterior layer of protective enamel coating and unsupported spaces beneath the pipes.
“Business as usual by Enbridge is not acceptable and we are going to ensure the highest level of environmental safety standards are implemented to protect one of Michigan’s most valuable natural resources,” Snyder said.
The Republican governor’s administration has resisted critics’ demands to order the lines decommissioned, but that option “is still on the table,” said Valerie Brader, executive director of the Michigan Agency for Energy.
Although the federal government regulates oil pipelines, Michigan owns the lake bottom and granted an easement to the company allowing the pipeline to go there.
Enbridge officials acknowledged an erosion of public confidence in the safety of Line 5 and apologized for what they described as poor communication with the public about their inspections and studies.
Among the steps intended to boost the underwater pipes’ safety is a procedure for temporarily halting the flow of oil during storms that produce sustained waves at least 8 feet high for longer than an hour, the level at which Brader said recovery of spilled oil becomes “extraordinarily hard.”
Enbridge also agreed to evaluate three options by June for routing the underwater segment through a tunnel or trench, on or beneath the lakebed — using the existing pipes or building a new one.