Great Lakes Oil Pipeline in Violation of Operating Agreement: Groups

"Michigan urged to terminate Line 5 crossing in the Straits of Mackinac."

"Twin, 63-year-old oil pipelines crossing beneath the waters that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are currently out of compliance with the state agreement that allows their existence, according to a letter and memorandum sent Wednesday by 22 environmental and tribal groups to Michigan’s governor and attorney general.

The letter outlined eight violations of a 1953 easement that provides for Line 5, an oil pipeline operated by Canadian energy company Enbridge, Inc., to cross an 8-kilometer (5-mile) stretch of Great Lakes water at the Straits of Mackinac. In light of the violations, which include physical problems with the pipeline itself as well as a failure to operate the pipeline in a reasonably prudent manner, the groups called on state leaders to revoke permission for the Line 5 crossing.

Further, they asked the state to act immediately in lieu of waiting until 2017, when a state advisory board is scheduled to complete an independent risk analysis and review of alternatives to the pipeline."

Codi Kozacek reports for Circle of Blue April 13, 2016.