Up North Progressive

Michigan Campaign Finance Network published an article about the recent activity with County Boards of Commissioners passing resolutions in favor of building a tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac for housing Enbridge Line 5. Why are these local governments doing this? Because Enbridge wants to build the tunnel, the previous state administration signed a lame-duck session law that said they could, but the new state government that Enbridge worked very hard to make sure didn’t get elected wants to decommission the 65-year-old pipeline that threatens the Straits. So now Enbridge looks to county-level government to give them the support they want.

So far in 2019, eight County Boards of Commissioners have passed a resolution expressing support for the Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel and that without gas from the pipeline, the Upper Peninsula wouldn’t have natural gas for heating. The resolutions are all similar in language and that is because Dickinson County, the first to pass a pro-Enbridge resolution, shared theirs with other counties in the UP. Enbridge claims they did not provide any language for the resolutions passed. During the 2019 Michigan Association of Counties, Enbridge was a major sponsor of the conference. So far this year Enbridge has spent over $100,000 in lobbying fees.

Unfortunately, the slick full page ads insisting Enbridge Line 5 has never had a spill in 65 years and that they provide propane for 65 percent of UP homes for heating are simply not true. The number for how much gas they provide the UP has come down from the 85 percent they used to claim to 65 percent. The reality is Enbridge Line 5 only supplies about 12,000 homes in the central part of the UP. The rest comes from Wisconsin or from Canada via the Soo. As for spills, Enbridge Line 5 has a long history of spills throughout its 65-year history, the only section of pipeline that hasn’t had a spill yet is under the Mackinac Bridge. And let’s not forget the 2010 spill in the Kalamazoo River when a million gallons of oil spilled when Enbridge Line 6B ruptured. Enbridge’s fix for that problem was put in a new pipe with double the capacity of the old pipe.

Options to Enbridge Line 5 supplying the middle section of the UP with natural gas exist and are viable. Insisting that Enbridge must be allowed to put the Great Lakes at risk by providing two rail tanker cars of natural gas per day to 12,000 homes in the UP is the pinnacle of corporate greed and irresponsibility. Families in the UP don’t have to freeze for Enbridge profits if people are willing to look at the options.

Instead, Enbridge funnels money into the state with full-page ads and circumvents the will of Michigan voters who elected people who would work to shut down Line 5 by convincing county-level government, some of which receive no tangible benefit from Line 5 existing (hello, Grand Traverse County?) that supporting Enbridge is in their best interest. They even have Oakland County considering supporting Enbridge Line 5’s plans to dig under the Straits of Mackinac.

It’s time to stop Enbridge’s subterfuge in Michigan and shut down Line 5 for good.