Energy company says section is in good condition
By John Flesher
AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Energy supplies in the Great Lakes region would not be disrupted by shutting down twin pipelines that carry up to 23 million gallons of oil daily beneath the waterway where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet, an advocacy group said Monday.
Existing pipeline networks extending from western Canada to the Gulf of Mexico provide enough capacity to meet demand for crude oil and propane in the area without a nearly 5-mile-long segment that crosses the Straits of Mackinac, says analysis by For Love of Water, or FLOW.
The Traverse City-based group is among environmental organizations pushing to decommission the underwater section of Line 5 operated by Enbridge Energy Partners LP of Calgary, Alberta. They contend the 62-year-old segment isn’t worth the risk of catastrophic damage from a rupture and large spill. Enbridge says the section is inspected regularly and remains in good condition.
It “can be shut down, without resorting to additional oil trains, tank trucks, or lake tankers to serve regional refineries, as Enbridge would have you believe,” said Gary Street, former director of engineering at Dow Environmental, who provided technical information to FLOW.
Enbridge spokesman Jason Manshum said the company had no immediate comment on the group’s report but would cooperate with a third-party analysis of alternatives to Line 5 to be conducted for the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board.
Enbridge says Line 5 helps meet rising demand from refineries in Michigan and Ohio for light crude oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota. About 30 percent of the crude it transports is processed in the Detroit area and stays in the region, the company says.
The pipeline also carries 85 percent of the propane that heats homes in northern Michigan, according to the company, although FLOW says the Upper Peninsula gets its share before the line reaches the Straits of Mackinac.
