TAKE ACTION

Add your voice to those who know an oil tunnel under the Great Lakes is a bad idea.

Enbridge and Michigan's Governor made a backroom deal to explore building a tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac that would keep Canadian oil flowing through the Great Lakes. A tunnel is a bad idea on several levels. 

Sign the Petition

Join us and sign this petition now to oppose a Line 5 oil pipeline tunnel for Canada, protect the Great Lakes, and support shutting down the Line 5 oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. 

To Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Attorney General Bill Schuette, and all 2018 candidates for governor and attorney general in Michigan:

There is no light at the end of Gov. Snyder’s proposed Line 5 oil pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac. Michigan doesn’t need Enbridge’s Line 5 or the oil it sends to southern Ontario. We don’t need to keep the Great Lakes at risk of a catastrophic oil pipeline rupture in the Straits while state officials spend years and taxpayer resources keeping an old oil pipeline running so a Canadian oil transport company can get a new pipeline built in Michigan to transport heavy tar sands oil.

What we do need is a clear timetable to close Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac and keep oil pipelines out of the Great Lakes!

Gov. Snyder’s proposed Line 5 tunnel presents a host of troubling problems, threatening the long-term protection of the Great Lakes and their tributaries. They include:

  • Exposing the Great Lakes to dangerous tar sands oil – Constructing a tunnel for a Canadian company to haul Canadian oil to southern Canada under the world’s largest source of fresh surface water will transform Line 5 into yet another dangerous Enbridge tar sands oil conduit. Line 5 does not currently transport heavy tar sands oil thanks to the State of Michigan’s 2015 ban. However, a new Canadian tunnel in the Straits is an invitation for Enbridge to seek to lift this ban and transport tar sands in Line 5. A Canadian Line 5 tunnel would give Enbridge the green light to expand its North American tar sands oil operations here in the heart of the Great Lakes.
  • Continuing to use a leaky old oil pipeline – Building a tunnel for Canada under the Great Lakes ignores the other 641 miles of the 65-year old Line 5 that are increasingly corroding, especially in boggy wet areas. Since 1968, Line 5 has ruptured at least 29 times on land, spilling over 1.1 million gallons of oil into Michigan’s pristine lands and waters. Line 5 traverses 245 other water crossings, including ones that are tributaries of Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron. One Line 5 spill in the Upper Peninsula near Lake Michigan contaminated 825 tons of soil in the Hiawatha National Forest and exposed groundwater to potential contamination.
  • Ignoring the law and alternatives – A Canadian tunnel under the Straits is not permissible under Michigan’s Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (GLSLA), common law public trust doctrine, and would risk violating the 1836 Treaty and consent decree with Michigan Tribes protecting the Straits fishing grounds. These protections are meant to safeguard the Great Lakes and state officials must enforce them and Enbridge can’t ignore them. One such protection requires Enbridge to prove that there are no other alternatives to Line 5 or the Straits, when in fact other alternatives exist. As citizens, we also have a right to ensure our laws protecting the Great Lakes are followed.
  • Opposing the public’s will – Michigan has already imposed a directional oil and gas drilling ban deep under the Great Lakes because of its sovereign title to these public trust Great Lakes bottomlands. Opening up the Great Lakes to more oil transport is in conflict with this established policy. The oil and gas drilling ban arose largely because of concern about the migration of oil upward from the subsurface lakebeds of the Great Lakes. Strongly supported by the public, the 2002 drilling ban was designed to prevent the very risk of a Line 5 tunnel for Canada would present. In addition, May 2018 public polling results found 54% of Michigan voters want the Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac to be shut down, and 87% of voters said they are concerned that the 65-year-old pipeline could have oil spill in Northern Michigan, while 64% said they are "very concerned."
  • Triggering NAFTA claims by other companies – Allowing Enbridge to tunnel under the Great Lakes to benefit Canada could trigger other oil and gas transport companies to assert rights under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), citing violations of fair treatment and free trade provisions.
  • Harming the Pure Michigan economy – Northern Michigan’s regional economy—from tourism to fishing—would face severe disruption during construction of a Canadian Line 5 tunnel. A state study estimated 27 months of significant increases in traffic congestion near the Mackinac Bridge, reduced housing for seasonal tourism workers and strains on emergency fire, rescue and police services.
  • Risking an explosion and catastrophic spill – All oil pipelines – even those in tunnels – have an inherent risk of spills in their operations. The risk of having a spill cannot be completely engineered away because of the ever-present potential for human error contributing to or causing a spill event. Combining crude oil pipelines with other pipe fossil fuel liquids or gases introduces worst-case scenarios that would likely compound the high risk of unacceptable catastrophic harm.
  • Promoting climate change – Climate change demands immediate, coordinated state and regional energy policies that promote the expansion of renewable energies. By continued investment in fossil fuel infrastructure like Line 5, however, the State would effectively delay the current energy transition to renewable energy across North America. In addition, extracting and refining Canadian tar sands crude oil produces 20 percent more climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions than the same processes for conventional American crude, according to a peer-reviewed study funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

A Line 5 oil pipeline tunnel for Canada under the Straits of Mackinac poses an unacceptable risk to our water, ecosystems, health, and economy.

I urge you to oppose a Line 5 oil pipeline tunnel for Canada, protect the Great Lakes, and support shutting down the Line 5 oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac.

5,616 SIGNATURES
Help Reach the Next Goal: 6,500 signatures

Will you sign?


Showing 3274 reactions

  • Linda Ungerer
    signed 2018-12-03 17:41:23 -0500
  • Madeline Ward
    signed 2018-12-03 09:06:26 -0500
  • Marie Chuchvara
    signed 2018-12-02 22:14:53 -0500
  • James A. Stover
    signed 2018-12-02 12:27:18 -0500
    Shut down Line Five…and no Tunnel…..and part of bridge authority
  • Teya DeJager
    signed 2018-12-02 12:14:29 -0500
  • Ianelle Dudeck
    signed 2018-11-30 15:09:09 -0500
  • Christine Vanderhill
    signed 2018-11-30 13:36:30 -0500
  • Dianne Karsh
    signed 2018-11-30 07:07:39 -0500
  • Janice Corak
    signed 2018-11-29 17:49:47 -0500
  • Jane Watts
    signed 2018-11-29 17:35:20 -0500
  • Sharon Riley
    signed 2018-11-29 17:25:48 -0500
  • Susan Schopp
    signed 2018-11-29 16:46:17 -0500
  • Aimee Boettcher
    signed 2018-11-29 16:38:43 -0500
  • Jody Bond
    signed 2018-11-29 16:16:44 -0500
    Please hear us. We, the citizens of MI, do not want or consent to the tunnel or pipeline. Please put people before profits. Please protect us from greed. Please protect us from contamination. Our lakes are our life. Please. For your children. For theirs. Keep the Great Lakes clean!
  • Nancy Ledy
    signed 2018-11-29 16:07:15 -0500
  • Bridget Kuusinen
    signed 2018-11-29 16:00:47 -0500
  • Mara Brockmiller
    signed 2018-11-29 15:28:55 -0500
  • Leopold Freedman
    signed 2018-11-29 13:33:04 -0500
    To all our elected officials : please do not permit this tunnel initiative to go through.
  • Peggy Greenwood
    signed 2018-11-29 11:46:18 -0500
    Peggy Greenwood
  • Katherine Faddol
    signed 2018-11-29 11:44:48 -0500
    KEEP IT OUT OF MY LAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Claudia Hutchisson
    signed via 2018-11-29 10:43:35 -0500
    No, just NO!!!! Let’s invest in renewable energy instead, like the rest of the world please. And thank you.
  • David Cywinski
    signed 2018-11-29 10:24:17 -0500
    Stop bill 1197!!!
  • Mary Kreiter
    signed 2018-11-29 10:21:45 -0500
    Can we get an injunction to stop SB1197?
  • Laurie Pullen-Johnson
    signed 2018-11-29 08:00:00 -0500
    We already have so much contaminated water in Michigan! Why can’t people see that having an unstable and faulty oil pipeline in the largest freshwater lake in the world is huge problem?

    PLEASE SHUT IT DOWN!
  • Alycea Maki
    signed 2018-11-29 06:59:58 -0500
  • Lu Thrushman
    signed 2018-11-28 19:57:14 -0500
    this is our life, our nature, when the oil spills its gone, what are we working so hard for every day if its trashed for profit?
  • Carol Weaver
    signed 2018-11-28 15:38:55 -0500
  • Beezee
    @brenda81162 tweeted link to this page. 2018-11-28 15:16:47 -0500
    Enbridge and Michigan's Governor Snyder made a backroom deal to explore building a tunnel for Canadian oil under the Great Lakes. SIGN THE PETITION opposing this horrible idea. #RetireLine5 https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/oppose_line_5_oil_pipeline_tunnel?recruiter_id=64435
  • Brenda Butcher
    signed 2018-11-28 15:15:21 -0500
  • Maureen and Michael McMullen
    signed 2018-11-28 14:22:47 -0500
    Shades of the tragic and historic environmental explosion in the Gulf Coast some 4 years ago. Why do humans continue to shit where they eat?

    Lake Superior is the last clean body of water on the planet, for God’s sake. Our lawmakers and Enbridge confirm that we citizens are living in a world where the greedy appear needy and the needy appear greedy. STOP THE ENVIRONMENTAL RAPE NOW!

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