I was born and raised in Michigan and am now a kayak guide in Mackinaw City, just a couple miles from Line 5. The Great Lakes have been a part of me since I can remember, whether it be taking trips to various lake towns with my family or working in Empire or Mackinaw City. This is my first summer living on the Lakes and it has been incredible watching how many people from all over the world visit our beaches because of these freshwater jewels. It makes no sense to me that these Lakes continue to be out a risk due to a company from another country. No matter what angle you look at, whether it’s from the environmental impact a spill would have on the Great Lakes, or the economic impact on Michigan’s tourism industry, real estate market, etc., the answer is clear: We cannot afford an oil mishap in the Straits of Mackinac. Please put people over profit for once and shut down Line 5 before it’s too late.

The Great Lakes define us here in Michigan literally and figuratively. They shape the contours of our state, our lifestyles, our incomes, our tourism, our love of nature and our appreciation of our fresh waters – and prospects for our future. The Great Lakes are the soul of our state and home to millions of people who enjoy them, celebrate them, and depend on fresh waters and tributaries – our abundant rivers, streams, springs, and wetlands. The Great Lakes are home to millions of migrating birds and species of wildlife, impacting life far beyond our shores.


The Enbridge Line 5 pipeline is 645 miles of risk to Michigan: 645 miles across the Upper Peninsula and through the Lower Peninsula – under, over, and across sensitive wetlands, streams, rivers, and agricultural lands, including roughly five miles of pipeline (actually about 10 miles of pipe since there are twin pipelines under the Straits) under the waters that connect Lakes Huron and Michigan, on a route that carries 90-95% of the oil and gas product originating in Canada to Canada for Canadian interests and exports.


Michiganders do not owe a pipeline route to Enbridge, do not deserve the uneven burdens imposed by Line 5, should not have to continue bearing this uneven burden. Likewise, the State of Michigan, and by extension the MDEQ, do not owe allegiance to support Enbridge. Michigan gains little and risks all should there be – inevitably – a rupture, leak, break in the Line 5 pipeline at any point along the 645 miles, including deep below the Straits of Mackinac.


The State of Michigan and the MDEQ do owe allegiance to the people of Michigan, and the first peoples of Michigan, and stewardship to protect and nurture our state’s greatest natural resource. Positive returns from this pipeline are disproportionate to the risk: jobs and other pipeline income are dwarfed by the risk to Michigan’s economy from a pipeline failure. Michigan’s Attorney General has estimated costs upwards of a billion dollars to Michigan’s economy should a major spill or rupture occur at the Straits. Dynamic Risk Assessment Systems significantly undervalues the potential costs of a worst-case.


The Dynamic Risk Assessment Systems report is flawed and compromised and needs to be regarded in these terms. Two of the company’s risk assessors were working for Enbridge on a Line 3 study, during an overlapping period of six months, while also working on the risk assessment of Enbridge Line 5 on behalf of the State of Michigan. This may in part explain why the risk assessment downplays real “worst case” in any of the options provided in the published assessment. (Anchor drag, a novel problem, is assigned primary risk threat while leaks and ruptures are labeled secondary risk, for example.) Seemingly, the assumptions underlying the risk assessment is that the Line 5 pipeline is a viable and necessary risk when neither is true. Line 5 pipeline is 64 years old, 14 years past life expectancy. In 2017, the State of Michigan does not need Enbridge Line 5 – not for jobs, not for oil, not for gas.


Among the alternatives posed in the incomplete and likely biased Dynamic Risk assessment is a Southern option, a route bypassing the U.P. and running instead along the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan and looping around Chicago and back up to Michigan and across “eleven sparsely populated rural counties” as if these counties don’t much matter and may be discounted. There are springs and streams that flow in abundance along that option too – and communities of families, farms, homes, schools, and wells for fresh water.


For years Enbridge has failed contractual obligations to maintain the easement and supports under the Straits, putting Michigan’s economy and the welfare of the Great Lakes at risk. For years, while Enbridge made promises to repair and maintain Line 5, the twin pipelines under the Straits have hung suspended and unsupported to 200 feet below the surface of the Straits with no support for spans up to 175 feet and more, when contractually supports are required every 75 feet. Documented dives have revealed evidence of corrosion, mussels, and bends in the pipeline compromising integrity and safety. Evidence of frost heave in other locations has thrust buried pipeline above ground and subject to weather, compromising integrity and safety. Irregularities and evident lack of maintenance give no assurance of safety and good practices in the future. Enbridge has demonstrated willingness to sacrifice pipeline safety in the pursuit of company profits and economies. This disregard leads to the conclusion that the best decision is to end Line 5 operation in Michigan immediately and permanently.


Therefore, I urge the State of Michigan to set aside the flawed and compromised risk assessment that downplays real worst-case threats to our environment and fresh waters and misrepresents real risk.


Therefore, I implore the State of Michigan to act as Steward of the Great Lakes and act on behalf of Michigan’s best interests by imposing an immediate and total shut down of Enbridge Line 5.


Further, I entreat the State of Michigan to shut down Line 5 permanently and completely by also rejecting options of replacement pipelines under the Straits and all waterways, rejecting options of tunnels blasted under the Straits and all waterways, by rejecting a so-called Southern route option and any other options Enbridge offers alternatively through our state.


Michigan’s economy relies on the Great Lakes; our tourism is driven by them. Michigan’s spirit is nourished by them. Michiganders and the State cannot afford the loss of either. Please shut down Enbridge Line 5 and reject options that continue operation of this pipeline including new pipelines and alternative routes that would put at risk more Michigan communities. Act on behalf of all Michiganders and protect our Great Lakes and fresh waters. Please decommission Enbridge Line 5 immediately and permanently.

A spill is inevitable. When it happens Micigan cannot recover for decades if not hundreds of years. Listen to geological experts not fossil fuel proponets!