Greg Awtry

EGLE is currently accepting public comments to help them deny or approve a permit to allow Enbridge, a Canadian corporation, to dig a 370-foot-deep tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac so Canadian oil can go through Michigan on its way to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada where it will be refined into fuel to service eastern Canada and adding billions to Enbridge’s coffers.

Below are my official comments submitted to EGLE

EGLE Representatives,

If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

A major controversy regarding Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac continues to grow. Now Enbridge wants to build a 370-foot deep tunnel under the Straits and put the pipe, along with fiber optic cables and electrical transmission lines. This “disaster-in-waiting” idea is so wrong in so many ways.

Currently the approval for this tunnel is waiting on two entities to approve it. One is the Army Corp of Engineers, the other is the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, Energy, better know as EGLE.

As most of you know, Line 5 is a 645-mile pipeline running from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario. The oil originates in Canada and ends up in Canada where it is refined and distributed to Eastern Canada. There is a small amount diverted to make jet fuel for Detroit Metro Airport, and some Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) are pulled off to make propane.

The current pipeline is 72 years old and has spilled 29 times, releasing over 1.1 million gallons of oil. Enbridge also has a disastrous environmental record according to Violation Tracker. They report Enbridge and their subsidiaries have had 107 environmental violations in the last 25 year, That averages one environmental violation every three months for the last 25 years!

This alone is reason enough for EGLE to deny Enbridge any permits to build a tunnel under the Straits. But consider the Great Lakes in their present form have been here for 3,000 years and hold 21 percent of the world’s fresh surface water. Consider the 40 million people who get their drinking water form the Great Lakes. Consider the commercial shipping, the commercial and sport fishing; consider the tourism and thousands and thousands of people employed by Great Lakes’ dependent businesses.

EGLE’s mission statement is to “protect Michigan’s environment and public health by managing air, water, land and energy resources.” And, to “take a strategic approach that accounts for the impacts of today’s actions on future generations.”

So there you go EGLE. There’s the answer to your deny or permit issue, “future generations.” A significant oil spill or tunnel collapse or explosion in the Great Lakes would be catastrophic and nearly impossible to clean up. The University of Michigan did an exhaustive study on such a spill that could affect over 700 miles of shoreline, disrupt commercial lake traffic, and devastate fishing and tourism and leave everlasting damage to the Great Lakes.

Add to that the fact Enbridge has not done the standard accepted number of boring samples, and the ones they did do revealed the lack of bedrock for the entire tunnel placement up to 370 feet down. They also discovered the presence of methane, a highly explosive gas. If you allow the tunnel to proceed, just imagine a twenty-foot wide tunnel with oil, electricity, fiber optics and possible methane gas all contained in a defined space, and all the possibilities of leaks or explosions.

And if that is not enough, think about the drilling process itself that will discharge five million gallons of drilling wastewater per day back into the Great Lakes.

We simply cannot put the Great Lakes in jeopardy when there are viable alternative solutions to get Canadian oil to Canada.

The people of Michigan are counting on you to do the right thing, as are future Michiganders not even born yet, as your mission statement states, for “future generations.”

You, and we the people of Michigan, are responsible for doing whatever we can to preserve and protect the Great Lakes forever. Deny the tunnel permit and do your part to protect them for another 3,000 years. If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

We can move a pipeline. We cannot move the Great Lakes.

Sincerely,

Greg Awtry

Readers, what do you think? Let me know at Gregawtry@awtry.com