Support the Line 5 Shutdown
Why are we writing to our Senators, our US Representative, Department of Energy and Department of Transportation? Oil and Water Don't Mix explains it best...
We are reaching out to share our support for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s decision to protect the Great Lakes by acting to decommission Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac.
These 67-year-old pipelines present a clear and present danger to the Great Lakes. The twin pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac that put 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water and the region’s economy at risk should never have been allowed to be there and in fact, were never subject to modern-day environmental laws and reviews.
The State of Michigan, as owner and trustee, has a legal responsibility to manage the public-owned bottomlands where Line 5 is located and protect the Great Lakes. Line 5 has spilled at least 33 times and 1.1 million gallons of oil along its length since 1968. Under the best of circumstances, only 30% of a spill in the Straits of Mackinac would be recovered. 1.5 million jobs are directly connected to the Great Lakes and $62 billion in wages.
Enbridge’s ongoing and incurable violations of its 1953 easement with the state prompted Gov. Whitmer to revoke the easement to protect the Great Lakes from a catastrophic oil pipeline rupture that would impact up to 700 miles of shoreline. Gov. Whitmer has ordered the removal of these dangerous pipelines by May 2021, but Enbridge, a Canadian-based oil transport giant, is attempting to delay and ultimately defeat the governor’s actions.
At the heart of this dispute is the sovereign authority and title of U.S. states to protect their water resources for the benefit of their citizens under the perpetual public trust and equal footing doctrines.
Shutting down Enbridge’s Line 5 essential to protecting shared Great Lakes
I was dismayed to read Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan pronounce his government’s “non-negotiable” opposition to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s order to close the damaged and corroding 68-year-old Enbridge Pipeline Line 5, which runs under the Straits of Mackinac.
Tue., March 16, 2021 3 min. read
