Members Speak

Concerned citizen

 To the Editor:

 It is time for us to cause some good trouble in the state of Michigan. The Enbridge’s Great Lakes Oil Tunnel cannot be allowed to receive a permit to build from the State of Michigan. This project is an experiment in the hands of people that do not even know, what they don’t know.

They know that there are pockets of methane gas under the Straits of Mackinac, but they do not know where or how large these deposits are. They know that under the best conditions it would take a minimum of 23 minutes to shut down the oil flow if there is a leak detected under the straits. That would result in 500,000 gallons of oil leaking into this fragile ecosystem; it is more likely to leak at least a million gallons before it would be stopped.  It is important for Michigan residents to know that the oil pipeline in Michigan is owned by two subsidiaries for Enbridge’s INC. If the company’s past practices are to hold when an accident were to occur, these subsidiaries will become insolvent and we, the people of Michigan, would be left to pay for the cleanup through our taxes. Enbridge would not have to pay anything to clean up the mess they profited from. 

It should also be clear that the oil industry does not clean up any site 100 percent. If they get 60 percent of the oil cleaned up that is a huge success. Nearly half of the spill settles on the bottom or gets washed to other areas. One is left to wonder how much debris would have to be carried away from digging a 30 foot tunnel under the bed of the Straits of Mackinac.

According to Enbridge’s own estimates, it will take 283 dump trucks a day for six years to remove all of the debris that will need to be excavated from the site. No where in the United States has such a project ever been attempted and to make our first attempt in an ecosystem that contains 21 percent of the entire fresh water on the face of the planet is absurd.

If we can make enough noise to keep the State of Michigan from giving a permit to build to Enbridge, we can stop this project from ever happening and shut down Line 5 for good. We need each of us to write to EGLE demanding an end to this folly before it is too late before Aug. 29, 2025. There have been 30 line spills along the Line 5 pipeline since 1968. Fortunately none of them have been in the straits yet. The pipeline has outlived its original life expectancy by 23 years as of this writing.  Please write to the Michigan Department of Environmental Great Lakes and Energy at https://www.michigan.gov/egle/ about/featured/line5/comment  tell  them to examine all aspects  of this project before writing any permits. Please plan to attend meetings online on Tuesday August 12, at 6 p.m., and August 19, 6 p.m. Go to oilandwaterdontmix.org for more valuable information.

 Michael Fields

 Gladwin County