By Beth Wallace
Enbridge Energy has recently announced plans to expand the Lakehead Pipeline system to pump even more tar sands oil through the Great Lakes. That announcement came nearly a week after the National Wildlife Federation released a report warning that pipeline rules and regulations do not adequately protect the Great Lakes from spills.
For some time, the Great Lakes states have been one of the lead transporters for raw tar sands oil. This issue came to light after one of the largest tar sands inland oil spills in history, when Enbridge spilled approximately 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River watershed.
This disaster caused widespread environmental damage and health impacts, and baffled cleanup crews when officials discovered the oil sinks rather than floats — the spill is still being cleaned up today and a majority of the river remains closed.
Nearly two years later, before the investigation into the cause of that spill is complete, Enbridge has announced plans to expand the very pipeline that burst in Marshall to pump even more tar sands oil through the Great Lakes.
Not only is the risk of disastrous pipeline spills going to increase, but the pollution from refining tar sands oil is also going to affect our health and ecosystems as Enbridge pumps this more corrosive and toxic oil to refineries that dot our waters.
The hits don’t stop there. A large amount of the oil will not stay in Michigan, let alone the U.S. These projects have been advertised to investors as aiding in pushing large amounts of oil to the coasts for export. The Line 6B expansion projects, which run through Jackson County, would put the Great Lakes at the heart of the tar sands transportation debate — above Keystone XL and the Northern Gateway.
One major problem with the permitting around these expansion projects is how Enbridge’s plans conveniently (for them) evolved in a way that would keep all decision making at the state level. There appears to be no federal review of the entire replacement project despite this being an international pipeline. While federal law requires the U.S. State Department to approve maintenance activities at border crossings, Enbridge was apparently allowed to repair the pipeline that crosses into Canada under an existing permit.
Since that phase has been mostly completed, Enbridge has continued to put forth, piece-by-piece, projects labeled as “maintenance and rehabilitation.” These in fact replace a majority of the existing Line 6B with larger pipeline, which will eventually increase flow rates by almost double.
If Enbridge had been required by the State Department to put forward the entire pipeline repair project at once there would have been an environmental impact assessment and much more opportunity for public input.
The National Wildlife Federation is calling for an investigation into the entire Lakehead system expansion project, asking the Michigan Public Service Commission to suspend any pending permits on Line 6B until federal agencies had had a chance to reviews filings and determines if federal permitting should be required.
— Beth Wallace is community outreach regional coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes Regional Center in Ann Arbor. Contact her at email@example.com.