The report released today by Consumer Energy Alliance--a national oil industry front group--should have had a consumer warning label attached to its findings. It raises unfounded fears about Gov. Whitmer's shutdown order for Enbridge's Line 5 and ignores the impact of a pipeline failure in the Great Lakes.
A spill from Line 5 at the Straits of Mackinac could deliver a blow of over $6 billion in impacts and natural resource damages to Michigan's economy, according to a study commissioned by FLOW. The study estimates $697.5 million in costs for natural resource damages and restoration and more than $5.6 billion in total economic impacts.
A separate study found that a Line 5 oil spill in the Straits could trigger a domino effect of damage disrupting Great Lakes commercial shipping and steel production, slashing jobs, and shrinking the nation's Gross Domestic Product by $45 billion after just 15 days.
While this astroturf group's report claims it is Ohio--not Michigan--that will bear the brunt of a Line 5 shutdown economic impact, even that conclusion seems largely based on anecdotal stories from biased sources with an agenda to keep Line 5 operating. The fact is that the Consumer Energy Alliance is not credible.
The Center for Media and Democracy's Source Watch, a watchdog group, says the alliance, "is part of a sophisticated public affairs strategy designed to manipulate the U.S. political system by deluging the media with messaging favorable to the tar-sands industry..."
Source Watch lists 65 oil, gas, nuclear, and other energy industry lobbying and corporate firms as supporters and affiliates of Consumer Energy Alliance.
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