Petition to Enforce the Easement

Michigan Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette:

As you know, the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge pumps almost 23 million gallons of oil every day through its Line 5 pipeline, from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario.

Enbridge is currently operating in violation of the 1953 easement agreement with the State of Michigan to operate Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. Turbulent currents and winter conditions make the Straits the worst possible location for a spill. Required supports for Line 5 have washed out for the second time in two years. Independent experts have identified at least seven state and federal violations of this legal agreement with the state.

Since 1988, this 64-year-old pipeline has failed at least fifteen times, dumping about 260,000 gallons of oil on land and in marshes. This pipeline crosses along the bottom of the Great Lakes at the Straits of Mackinac, and through many sensitive inland lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

This pipeline poses an unacceptable risk to our water, ecosystems, health, and economy.

I urge you to act as legal public trustees of our waters and bottomlands to enforce the 1953 Easement and immediately shut down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac to protect the Great Lakes from a catastrophic oil spill.