A new study released Tuesday, using federal data, says that over its 64-year lifespan, the Enbridge Energy Line 5 pipeline has leaked over a million gallons of oil and gas liquids into Lake Michigan. According to the Chicago Sun Times this is about twice as much as was believed to be the case.
Environmentalists are concerned because 4½ miles of the pipeline lies mostly exposed on the bed of the Straits of Mackinac, at the northern tip of Lake Michigan, where it joins Lake Huron. Over the years, pressure inside the pipeline, which is split into two separate pipes as it goes under the straits, has been increased so that it can move more oil.
A massive leak in this area could affect the drinking water of millions of people and destroy the commercial fishing and tourism industries of the area. At the very least, this study shows that oil has been consistently leaking into waterways for decades now, completely underreported.
Line 5 carries as much as 540,000 barrels of fossil fuels each day from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario, and is owned by Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge. It passes under the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet, which has provoked concerns that if the pipeline were to leak, it could contaminate the Great Lakes. Just last month, Enbridge acknowledged that the outer casing of underwater pipeline in that area had fallen off in 18 places.
"There's mounting evidence for serious concern for the Great Lakes," said Mike Shriberg, the executive director of the Great Lakes Region of the National Wildlife Federation, which released the data on Line 5. "The Great Lakes provide water for 40 million people. They are critical to the economy...This is a potentially high-consequence situation here, and what we're finding—and this is just the newest piece of it—is that there's increasing cause for concern."
Protecting the Great Lakes region and restoring the areas that have been destroyed by our industries over time is low on this Republican administration’s list. Trump and company have pushed forward with cutting funding from the Great Lakes restoration project under the guise of infrastructure project expediency.