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I just read Rachel Maddow’s “blow Out”. You may have already considered it, but due to her diligent research and reporting, she would be able to present a thoughtful report on Enbridge and its shady practices. Unfortunately, I don’t have contacts that could be helpful. So, it is just an idea that may be possible.

If you could briefly repeat what you told us in the Day of Action Zoom Meeting about the Bay Mills Tribal lawyers overseeing Enbridge’s permit process, I would appreciate it. I got that Enbridge has to re-apply for the permit but I am not sure that I remember correctly the reason why. I want to be truthful and accurate when I discuss these matters with others so if you could just post a little blurb about it in your “News” section, that would be great!

I hope you are going to send out a copy of the recorded webinar from Tuesday, August 20th … it was excellent and I would really love to listening to it again.

In this age of technology and especially Green technology please consider adding PayPal to your donation section that’s what I always use it’s simple it’s easy no putting in a credit card number and also why don’t you include a QR code like many organizations are doing too click on the QR code send money I have a few hundred dollars to send you this summer and I’d like to do it easily!….. Quite a few!

And yes I have my sign in my driveway in Flint Michigan.

Make it a great day and thank you for volunteering!

Difficult to ACT on REROUTE as stated….I support shutting Line 5 Pipeline and the proposed reroute. Your latest email request makes it difficult to act. I click ACT NOW and there are several options it takes me to. Which am I supposed to click again?! It is confusing and I bet many people will just blow on by. Do I click send to Biden? It says nothing in the email about Biden. Idk what to do and would like to sign the letter to not approve this nonsense by Enbridge to reroute! Please redesign the letter or tell me what I am missing here. Thank you.

I have looked but unable to find an answer. from general science and the fact that there are counter currents in the Atlantic flowing differently than the surface, I would expect cold water at the bottom of Lake Michigan to flow south, warm, and then flow back north. so a line five (or tunnel) leak could destroy the water supply for all of Chicago. does anybody know?

This pipeline goes through the lower Thumb region. Would it be possible to bring this movie to a theater somewhere in the Thumb?

I would like to show your movies – Bad River and Troubled Waters at the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm this April – How do I get your permission to do so? How long are the movies? I want to help you but can’t get any response from your team! Pat McKay 248.841.2671, [email protected]

I purchased a ticket for March 23, 2024 at 5 pm. I made a donation of $25 and the senior ticket cost $11 for a total of $36. The charge that came through on my cc was $636. Please make a correction. Thank you.

Is there a way to get the Bad River shown somewhere in SW Michigan? Can it be made available to local non-profit groups? https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/bad_river_screening_traverse_city?utm_campaign=bad_river_film_1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=oilandwaterdontmix

First … thanks for all you do. I appears Enbridge is invoking 1977 legislation that prohibits the U.S. from prohibiting importing Canadian fossil energy. That said the thought of all of that oil (including from tar sands), natural gas and propane being carried by diesel trucks and rail if there is no pipe line doesn’t seem like a good trade to me. The air pollution, damage to roads and chance for crashes and derailments are immense. So I don’t like the idea of a Pipeline 5 tunnel under the straights, although it’s better than the current situation … I’d like to see another option. It seems like some Native American tribes have the right idea by invoking older treaties that prohibit their lands being used without their permission, especially to prevent inevitable damage. Fight the good fight, but please consider unintended consequences.


Ron

I want to learn more about the gathering happening outside the courthouse in Cincinnati on March 21st. When should I arrive? Where are we gathering? Do you need people to bring water? Let me know!

At the A2 showing of Troubled Water, I spoke to one of your leaders. My point I tried to make was that short 15-30 sec clips from your film (shown before TW) could dispel the myths and lies spread by Enbridge. Your supporters would share those clips to their networks. I just read this article about dispelling lies: “In fact, numerous studies rolled out to millions of people on social media have shown that inoculation in the form of brief informational videos makes people more skilled at identifying manipulation techniques common in misinformation, such as false dilemmas and scapegoating.” Disinformation Is the Real Threat to Democracy and Public Health, Scientific American

HI, Do you have points that I use to respond to a letter I received from Jack Bergman? You probably already know his boilerplate response, but just in case its changed here is what he sent


Since 1953, the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline has served as a necessary tool to provide heat, propane, and energy to the State of Michigan. Currently Enbridge provides the Upper Peninsula with two-thirds of its propane supply, and 55% of the propane supply of the entire State of Michigan. A sudden shutdown of the line would cripple the energy infrastructure in our state and further raise the price for Michiganders to heat their homes. However, I understand your concerns regarding Line 5, especially the 4.5 miles of pipeline that run underneath the Straight of Mackinac. Following multiple assessments, in December of 2023, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved Enbridge’s plan to replace the 4-mile section of pipeline under the Straight of Mackinac with a tunnel housing the pipeline.


The approved tunnel project will provide enhanced protection to the Great Lakes ecosystem by housing the line in an enclosed environment. This will offer protection from corrosive environmental factors, safeguard the line from accidental anchor strikes, allow easy access for maintenance, and proactively sequester any potential leaks from the water outside. We can and must protect our Great Lakes while ensuring that rural communities have their energy needs met. Please know, I am closely monitoring this situation and will keep your thoughts in mind should federal legislation related to this issue come before me for a vote.


Thanks for the help.

Hello. My name is Yvonne Besyk and I am on the Tar Sands teem of WI Sierra Club. At a Sierra event for Line 5 I asked a Canadian activist why Enbridge doesn’t just reroute Line 5 through Canada. They said it is because the rules about proximity to major waterways (like the Great Lakes) are more strict in Canada. Do you know how I can confirm the accuracy of that?

Please share this thoroughly informative site and petition regarding Highland Copper’s sulfide waste mine on Lake Superior’s shore next to the Porcupine Mountains! See here: https://protecttheporkies.com/

And petition: https://www.change.org/p/protect-the-porkies-cancel-the-copperwood-mine?signed=true

AVOIDING GREAT LAKES WATERS FOR OIL FLOW: PROPOSAL FOR OIL BYPASS OF LINE5 WITH CHEAPER ENHANCED UP PROPANE SUPPLY



Scott Emerson
December 2023



Line 61 runs from Enbridge’s Superior, WI terminal to its Flanagan Terminal near Chicago, IL. Over the past decade this pipeline has had its capacity increased by Enbridge from 400,000 barrels of oil per day in 2012 to currently 1.2 million barrels of oil per day as of 2022. They did this not by building new pipelines along the Line 61 route, but by adding more pumps along the pipeline. It appears as of fall of 2022 to now have 300,000 barrels per day of unused capacity, or, only 75% of full capacity.



Line 6A runs from the Enbridge Superior Wi terminal to Griffith Indiana. This pipeline is over 50 years old. It has a 667,000 barrel per day capacity. Line 6B was 6As extension. It runs from Griffith Indians to Sarnia, Ontario, and was also an aging pipeline when it ruptured near Marshall, MI at its age of 40 years. This resulted in the largest inland oil spill in American history just 13 years ago. In the wake of this 6B was completely replaced and renamed as Line 78. It is uncertain if the capacity of Line 6A could be increased by simply adding more pumps as with Line 61 (above), but this aging pipeline might also be prone to rupture like its twin 6B was, and due for replacement and upgrade of flow capacity. The 500 to 600 million used to build a tunnel beneath the Great Lakes waters could be used instead by Enbridge to upgrade this aging line’s capacity to compensate for the loss of flow through line 5 as an additional bypass of the Great Lakes waters.



Line 14 & 64 run from Superior Wi to Chicago & northwest Indiana and also has had oil spill issues. They have a capacity of 318,000 barrels per day (uncertain if used at full capacity) and could be upgraded to increase capacity with funds not spent on a Line 5 tunnel project.



Line 78 is a relatively new line from northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana to Sarnia, Ontario that replaced old line 6B in 2015. It has a capacity currently of 570,000 barrels a day and with new pipe, might be able to have capacity increased by adding more pumps, as for line 61(above).



Line 5 could be divided into Line 5A (above the straits of Mackinac) and Line 5B (below the straits of Mackinac) with NO oil crossing the straits and no tunnel being built. It transports 540,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) per day. The loss of propane supplies for the UP and LP of Michigan has been used as a main argument for continuing oil flow through the straits. This is despite the assurances of the main propane suppliers within Michigan’s UP and LP that alternative supplies are readily available. The UP uses approximately 20 million gallons of propane per year while the LP of MI uses 250 million gallons of propane/ year. Line 5 currently provides a total of approximately 440 million gallons of propane per year as 20 % of the 108,000 barrels per day of NGLs or y- grade/ year flowing through line 5. (108,000 barrels per day of NGLs times approx. 20 % of it propane = 21,600 barrels of propane per day; times 365 days per year = 7, 884,000 barrels of propane per year @ 55 gallons per barrel = 433 million gallons per year of propane). With 100 million of the 500 to 600 million for the tunnel being used to install increased propane fractionation at Superior WI, Line 5A could be used by Enbridge as a pure propane gas line for the UP. Using an additional 80 million of the 500 to 600 million for a tunnel project to instead build increased propane storage at Rapid River, MI and Kincheloe, MI, propane could be bought and stored at lower summer prices and result in decreased cost for UP propane consumers. Line 5B could be used as a collector line to Sarnia, Ontario for all the oil and gas production in the northern Lower Peninsula. All of the crude oil currently flowing through line 5 (432,000 barrels per day) and the remaining NGLs / y-grade (86,000 barrels per day) a total of 516,000 barrels per day, could now flow down to pipeline distribution networks in the Chicago area. And according to data supplied by Enbridge we suspect that there is significant excess capacity currently available via lines 61 (300,000 barrels a day) leaving 210,000 barrels per day to transport to the Chicago area distribution network. This would also leave 320 to 420 million dollars not spent on the Line 5 tunnel used for upgrades to replace the Line 5 flow via lines 6a, Line 14 / 64 and Line 78. And if Enbridge decided that what other major propane providers for the UP have said is actually correct – that there is plenty of propane available for the UP without Line 5, they could then use the entire 500 to 600 million not spent on the tunnel to work a bypass of all Great Lakes waters. This would prove that they really do care about this priceless fresh water resource as a top priority and want to be a good corporate citizen of Michigan, respecting our State’s governor’s, native Americans treaty rights, our attorney general’s and straits area local government’s wishes concerning Line 5.




Finally, since the cut off of propane supply for the State of Michigan has been used as a main argument and justification for continuing Enbridge’s Line 5 and building a tunnel through the straits beneath Great Lakes waters, it could become a pure propane gas line supplying at around 440 million gallons of propane to Michigan and Ontario per year. This would more than solve this “problem” for Michigan that has been raised by Enbridge, and at far less expense than building a tunnel. While still not ideal, if Line 5 just became a pure propane gas line, no tunnel would be needed or desirable and the twin pipelines could be replaced with a new single 5-mile segment on the lakebed or buried just below it to prevent anchor strikes. A propane leak would not be nearly as damaging to the Great Lakes waters and shorelines as an oil spill, as the gas would rise to the surface and be dissipated naturally by the wind. Constructing any tunnel for a pure propane pipeline would be bad, as this would concentrate any leak (not allowing it to dissipate) and increasing the risk of an explosion within the tunnel. The oil portion and remaining NGLs of line 5 could be sent via alternate routes south around the Great Lakes from Superior WI.


Where there is a will there is a way if the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority, Enbridge Corp, and the US Army Corp of Engineers are really serious about decreasing any chance of an oil spill within the waters of the Straits of Mackinac to ZERO.


Respectfully Submitted,


Scott Emerson


Chocolay Township


Michigan

Is anyone looking at creating a program using the new federal tax credits to convert UP propane use to air source heat pumps? I would seem that if there was a solid program to get people off of propane the “need for line 5” would be diminish . Air source heat pumps cost less to operate than propane so once the change was made the home owners would continue to benefit.

We are pleased to invite your organization to be a part of the 3rd annual Great Lakes Environmental Festival (GLEF) which will be held at the Manistee High School on 12th Street in Manistee Saturday April 20, 2024. This venue will host both the Environmental Expo in the commons and featured speakers in the auditorium. We will be open to the public from 10am to 4pm. Visitors can take in the Expo booths and also listen and learn from our array of subject matter experts at their leisure.


For more information on the GLEF please visit our website: https://www.glef.us/


I am the coordinator of the Environmental Expo which will feature information tables staffed by members of various local, regional, state, and national environmentally focused organizations. Each exhibitor will be allocated a 15×15 footprint in the spacious school commons area to set up their table and/or information booth. Please plan to bring your own tables and chairs. There will be a limited number of electrical outlets available on a first asked/first given basis. We will be open for setup at 9am on April 20th.


To reserve your spot in the Environmental Expo all I need is a return email from you confirming your intention to be an exhibitor. If you need electricity, please tell me as soon as possible so we can position you near an outlet.


Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need additional information.

Do you have an event at the Lyric in Harbor Springs to show Troubled Waters? I would be interested in getting that to happen if not.

You know who would shut down that pipeline if he were in office? ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. Enough trying to tell the corrupt politicians in this country anything…time to get someone who is, and has been, on your side for his whole career-if you remember, he made his career fighting corrupt polluting corporations. Time to tell the DNC and the corrupt politicians that are trying to keep him out of the race, to move over. He will fight for our resources more than any other President would!

I have written a poem to inspire our elected leaders to do the right thing with Pipeline 5.


Ecology and Economy

by Liz Timmerman


Everyone is so calm,

Speaking in dollars and cents

Like it all makes logical sense.

But we cannot compare

Ecology and economy.

There is no way to quantify

Needing fresh water to survive

Ecology is wild life, your life.

And economy cannot exist

If oil and water mix

In the largest fresh water

System on earth.

What is life worth?

How are we okay with this risk?


We have given away our power

To an entity that doesn’t care about tomorrow.

And our tax dollars are paying for this run around

As no tribe or government can shut it down

Without spending insane amounts of money and time

Proving that their operation is a crime.

And with each passing day, the risk compounds

As they spread lies on air waves and ad campaigns

To confuse us and buy more time.

Their accounting admits that each day

This shut down is delayed

They make another million dollars.

So they continue to ignore

Orders of cease and desist

After all, they have money to resist

And minutes are money

But we cannot compare

Ecology and economy.


Enbridge has admitted their goal

For this pipe that is already too old:

To operate until the pipeline fails.

Do they understand what that entails?

Maybe they do, as court documents reveal

A loophole they’ve found –

Michigan citizens will be on the line

For any damages caused by Pipeline Five.

We are not free citizens

When a business has no restrictions

On making billions

While risking life on this planet.

We have been complacent

Because it has been convenient

But spilled oil will be on each of our hands

If we don’t wake up and take a stand.

We can no longer be

Pawns of their propaganda.

The risk this line currently poses

Comes down to two choices:

We pay half a cent more per gallon

To redirect the line to safer ground

Or we continue to allow this risk to persist

Knowing it will only end in disaster.

I am speaking with candor:

There is no way to compare

Ecology and Economy.


Shut down pipeline five.

I’m a reporter with 13abc News in Toledo, Ohio. We’re working on a story leading up to Earth Day about the efforts to shut down Line 5.


Any chance someone from your group has a few minutes to do a Zoom interview about this? I’m looking to schedule that interview sometime this week, this weekend, or early next week.

I am a member of Maynard Anti-Racism Alliance (MARA). We will be tabling at a climate emergency focused Earth Day Fair at our local library. Our table will be about Environmental Justice. Although we are in MA, we are all connected and I would like to educate my community about the disastrous impact this tunnel wold have on our Great Lakes. I plan to wear the t-shirt I just bought but I would love some fact sheets/petitions/actions to share on the East Coast. Thanks, Maggie

I wonder about the power of the Canadian citizens.

I wonder how very well spent concentrated energy might be if focused on reaching them.

I seek to trace where the most stubborn, yet most malleable, kinks in the flow of progress  toward decommissioning Line 5 lie.

I think through what are – like it or not – vitally pertinent factors

*President Biden’s considerable wave of negative push-back for his takedown of the Keystone Pipeline;

*his crucial global responsibility to repair & reestablish U.S. relationships with neighbors & allies, dangerously damaged by the previous Administration.

I recognize that my focus is on environmental concerns.

I recognize I have the luxury of choosing; focusing on; fighting for specific grave concerns… WHILE I accept also that foreign affairs actually are crucial,  delicate matters; that bungled global diplomacy is no less a threat to the survival of Earth and life than the imminently critical environmental concerns I’m most focused on.

 I recognize I haven’t the expertise you do, but I find the greatest kink in progressing to the shut down of Line 5 sits squarely with P.M. Trudeau and his choice to support Enbridge & oil pipelines.

The power most capable of reaching this man who has  cast himself as a champion in the fight against climate change lies with the Canadian people

So, as the power most capable of releasing that kink lies in the hands of  the Canadian citizenship, I wonder what I can do/what we can and are collectively doing to tab that powerful resource.

 

I will keep writing President Biden if you truly believe that’s energy well, fairly and best spent, but daily grow more interested in contributing my energies toward releasing the major kink logic leads me to identifying.

It’s very possible I’m mistaken; that I lack pertinent facts. Pls. advice.


Thank you endlessly for the critical, vitally crucial work you devote yourselves to. 

Sincerely, Nicki CoutoumanosM.. Coutoumanos

—

“The common humanity of people, not the power of governments, is the only real protector of human rights" Jan Karski  24 June 1914 – 13 July 2000