It’s been called the “Worst Possible Place” for a Great Lakes Oil Spill, yet Enbridge assures us it’s “safe” to keep pumping 23 million gallons of bitumen every day through a Eisenhower- era oil pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac. What could go wrong?
Over 21% of the world’s supply of fresh water lies in the Great Lakes. The Straits of Mackinac is a narrow waterway between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The currents there are powerful and changeable, and they can reverse direction from east-to-west to west-to-east as often as every few days.
This stretch of water, according to a University of Michigan study commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation in 2014, would be “the worst possible place” for a Great Lakes oil spill, in the words of David Schwab, hydrodynamics expert with the U-M Water Center. Yet this is where “Line 5,” an Enbridge pipeline built in the Eisenhower administration over 60 years ago, carries 23 million gallons of bitumen every day.
This is madness. It is a clear and present danger to the entire Great Lakes ecosystem, which supports over 1.5 million jobs and an estimated $62 billion in annual wages according to a 2011 analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Line 5 is divided into two 20-inch diameter pipes that lie exposed at the bottom of the Straits at depths ranging from about 100 to 270 feet [source]. If Line 5 ruptures, the currents would quickly spread contamination throughout the Great Lakes. The environmental impact, particularly if a leak occurred in winter when the Lakes are impassible, would be devastating, both environmentally and economically. Even the U.S. Coast Guard has publicly stated that it lacks the capacity to effectively respond to spills of heavy crude oil in the Great Lakes. Yet Enbridge insists its Line 5 is safe, while refusing to allow independent verification of that claim or even disclose its own test results or methods.
Watch a simulation of how the oil would be dispersed over the period of several days following a major break of Line 5:
More background and current context after the orange jellyfish.
