Enbridge is a company that has oil pipelines going through Michigan and through the Great Lakes. Nothing could possible go wrong with that. Jim Malewitz reports for Bridge magazine:
The crew of a barge and tugboat whose six-ton anchor struck Line 5 last year in the Straits of Mackinac had no clue it was being dragged on the lake bed until nearly two days later near Indiana.
The anchor dented Enbridge Energy’s dual Line 5 oil pipelines and sliced Wisconsin-based American Transmission Co.’s three underwater power cables, causing $100 million in damage to the cables and releasing 800 gallons of mineral oil into the Straits on April 1, 2018.
Suppose that it had been the other way around, that the anchor dented the power cables and sliced the oil pipeline. I don’t think $100 million, or even $100 billion, would have covered the damage. It would have been a preventable disaster that would have made Flint look like an innocent screw-up.
Both Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan) and Attorney General Dana Nessel (D-Michigan) campaigned on shutting down Enbridge Line 5 on Day One. They’ve both been in office since January 1, 2019. And Enbridge Line 5 is still running. We’re one careless mistake away from destroying the Great Lakes.
Now Enbridge is running ads urging Michigan voters to tell the governor not to shut down Line 5. The ads include the URL for a fact sheet about Line 5.
FACT: Line 5 is a critical source of 540,000 barrels per day of propane and crude oil supply for Michigan and surrounding areas, and its shutdown would lead to a serious disruption of the energy market.
I don’t dispute that “a serious disruption of the energy market” would be bad. But would it be as bad as losing the water of the Great Lakes and potentially contaminating who knows how many smaller lakes?
Line 5 serves an estimated 55% of the state’s propane needs, including approximately 65% of the propane used in the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan, for which no viable alternatives exist.
Hmm… where does the other 45% of the state’s propane needs come from?
FACT: Enbridge voluntarily signed a series of three agreements with the State of Michigan, culminating in a commitment to build the tunnel to house a replacement segment of Line 5 at the Straits. The validity of these agreements has been affirmed through a Court of Claims decision.
I do remember a certain sense of urgency to ram those through when Gov. Rick Snyder (R-Michigan, 2011 — 2018) was wrapping up his second term.
With you know who in the White House and with Snyder facing scrutiny for his part in the preventable Flint water disaster, things weren’t looking good for Michigan Republicans in 2018. The series of three agreements are probably what prevented Whitmer and Nessel from living up to their promise to shut down Line 5 immediately.
FACT: Line 5 moves up to 540,000 barrels per day (bpd) of light oil and natural gas liquids (NGL). It would take an estimated 2,100 trucks heading east every day from Superior, and travelling across Michigan, to do the same job—or the equivalent of 90 trucks an hour leaving our Superior Terminal.
Similarly, it would take 800 rail cars a day to transport the equivalent amount of product.
Current infrastructure does not exist to support the necessary truck or rail traffic to fill the job currently done by Line 5.
This is probably 100% correct. But how much more difficult would it be to transport water from outside of Michigan if the Great Lakes are irreparably contaminated?
FACT: During the construction stage of this $500-million project, expected to begin in 2021, it’s estimated that between 1.8 million and 2 million hours of labor will be required—with an estimated average workforce of 200 to 255, an estimated peak workforce of 300 to 325, and estimated yearly wages ranging from $60,000 to $200,000.
A good-paying job is of little use if your water is contaminated. And I doubt even a $200,000 salary is enough to escape to a private island like Enbridge executives might if something horrible happened to the Great Lakes .
FACT: Without Line 5, regional refineries would lose more than 450,000 barrels per day (bpd)—about 45%—of their current demand.
That definitely falls under the “disruption” thing mentioned earlier.
FACT: Without Line 5, Michigan and the region would have immediate shortages of transportation fuels and propane.
Maybe no amount of advance preparation could avoid all shortages. But surely we can prepare some reasonable mitigation. Especially since it’s become clear that shutting down Line 5 is something that can’t happen at the snap of anyone’s fingers.
FACT: In 2019, Enbridge paid more than $66.7 million in property taxes across Michigan for our pipelines and related facilities—revenue that can be used for schools, infrastructure (roads and bridges), health and wellness, recreation, transportation and other services that help strengthen the fabric of the community.
Not disputing this one either. It can easily be verified. But what is Enbridge’s commitment to Michigan if Line 5 ruptures catastrophically? And what if that’s not enough? Those are questions I hope we never find the answers to.
In 2017, then-Lt. Gov. Brian Calley (R-Michigan, 2011 — 2018) looked me straight in the eye and told me that Line 5 presents an unacceptable risk. But the Upper Peninsula needs propane in the winter and this is a problem that needs to be carefully studied.
Maybe Calley did study the problem, maybe he did not. It doesn’t matter now. We’re still at risk of losing the Great Lakes, and that while also dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
Enbridge Line 5 needs to be shut down as soon as possible. But we’re forced to continue rolling the dice for who knows how long.