In recognition of the critical importance of the Great Lakes and the rule of law, citizens and communities battling the existential threat of climate change won an important victory when the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced June 23 they will conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) for Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 oil tunnel.
Dire Straits: A damaged portion of Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac shown in this June 2020 photo provided to the State of Michigan by Enbridge. By Nora Baty Do you remember the last time Line 5 shut down? This week marks the one-year anniversary of Line 5’s closure following significant damage to an… line-5-shut-down-a-year-ago-and-none-of-enbridges-doomsaying-came-true/" title="ReadRemember When Line 5 Shut Down a Year Ago, and None of Enbridge’s Doomsaying Came True?”>Read more »
Line 5-owner Enbridge and its enablers continue to engage in a Chicken Little “sky is falling” campaign, with the Canadian company claiming that, “shutting down Line 5 would cause shortages of crude oil for refineries in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and eastern Canada, as well as propane shortages in northern Michigan. In fact, none of Enbridge’s predictions of an energy shortage materialized when both legs of the dual Line 5 pipelines in the Straits were shut down for more than a week in June 2020 and one leg remained closed until about mid-September following damage that the U.S. Coast Guard said likely was caused by an Enbridge-contracted vessel. The research results are consistent with these studies forecasting little, if any, change in energy costs after Line 5 shuts down for good.
May 13 marked an inflection point in our water and climate work to shut down Line 5. It was a day of action and a show of force to evict Enbridge as a foreigner occupier—a rogue pipeline company pumping oil through our public waters and lands of the Great Lakes. It was a day highlighting the power of community and solidarity and the power of indigenous leadership in protecting the source of all life: water.
The following is a media release issued by FLOW on May 12, 2021. In refusing to shut down Line 5 by the state-ordered deadline today, Enbridge is flatly rejecting the authority of the State of Michigan to regulate and safeguard its own public trust waters and bottomlands —the very same state authority that Enbridge has… deadline-to-shut-down-line-5-enbridge-is-risking-the-great-lakes-and-privatizing-the-public-trust/" title="ReadDefying Today’s State Deadline to Shut Down Line 5, Enbridge Is Risking the Great Lakes and Privatizing the Public Trust”>Read more »
Despite the well-documented and lasting economic and ecological harm of oil pipeline disasters across the globe, we are witnessing intense, orchestrated opposition from Canada’s Enbridge and its allies to shutting down a clear-and-present danger to Michigan’s waters and way of life. A Line 5 oil spill would be an unprecedented ecological and economic disaster in the Great Lakes, threatening 84% of North America’s surface fresh water and some 20 percent of the planet’s fresh surface water, devastating coastal communities, and causing billions of dollars of damages to the environment and local and regional economy.
The Line 5 pipelines at the Straits of Mackinac—which Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has called on Enbridge to shut down by May 12—pose a multigenerational threat to citizens of the Great Lakes. Take it from Sage, an 11-year-old from Oxford, Michigan, who chose to do her 5th grade final project on Line 5. “My love for the Great Lakes,” Sage opens her essay.
We need a realty check on Line 5. There is plenty of capacity in Enbridge’s system to handle enough crude oil to make up for most of the loss in Line 5 when it is shut down.
By Maude Barlow and Jim Olson Editor’s note: This opinion piece appeared originally in Canada’s National Observer. The United States and Canada are not only close friends and neighbours, but are also committed to resolving their differences with civility and common purpose. The 112-year-old International Joint Commission (IJC), which prevents and resolves disputes over boundary… line-5-threatens-more-jobs-than-it-sustains/" title="ReadReality Check: Line 5 Threatens More Jobs Than It Sustains”>Read more »
Enbridge has unleashed a barrage of stories that claim Michigan and the U.S. need Canadian oil from Line 5, that thousands of jobs in Sarnia are in jeopardy, and that Sarnia and Ontario oil refineries already plan to implement an alternative by transporting crude oil by rail or ship it up the St Lawrence and on to Sarnia—a scare tactic on Ontario citizens. This is nothing but an attempt by Enbridge and the oil producers and refiners to pressure the Canadian government and Ontario citizens to oppose the shutdown of Line 5. These tactics require a reality check for both governments and all of the citizens in both countries, especially the 40 million of us who depend on the Great Lakes for our drinking water, jobs, navigation, fishing, and quality of life.
