BIG UPDATE:
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) ruled on April 21, 2021, to include climate evidence in their review of Enbridge's proposed Line 5 oil tunnel!
This is a historic decision. The first time greenhouse gases will be included in a review under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act. We will now be able to provide evidence not only about the climate impacts of the construction of the tunnel, but also the products the pipeline carries.
Thank you to the 120 businesses and organizations and the more than 2000 people who signed our letter urging the Commissioners to include climate change.
Thanks to you and the tireless actions of thousands of others, we've won a major step in the fight to prevent an oil tunnel and fight climate change and pollution! We will continue to work with our partners at the Environmental Law & Policy Center and expert witnesses to present this evidence.
For more information, check out our press release and the video below about the Commission's decision.
Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS for helping us win this monumental decision!
Allowing Enbridge to build a massive oil tunnel - and to restart the Line 5 oil pipeline that Gov. Whitmer has ordered shut down - will have significant impacts on our climate and our state. Building this oil tunnel at a time when scientists say we must cut climate emissions by 45% this decade is a terrible idea, and Enbridge has been fighting to keep all evidence about climate change from even being considered. In the midst of the burgeoning climate crisis, it would be irresponsible to allow Enbridge to narrow the scope of the review of this project so severely that the most important issues are excluded. We urge you to include evidence about climate change, other significant environmental risks, and public need in your review of Enbridge’s proposed oil tunnel project.
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It has refused to replace pipeline supports that were damaged or missing or repair damaged or deteriorating protective coatings on its existing pipelines or to take adequate precautions against future anchor strikes after ships dragging anchors twice hit the pipelines. It is more concerned with its own profits then it is with the safety and viability of the communities, jobs, drinking water, and the wildlife dependent upon the Great Lakes.
If something were to happen to the section under the Straits it is two 20-inch pipes, four-and-a-half miles long. Even if you shut the valves on either side, there’s close to 388,000 gallons of oil in each pipeline. If both pipelines were damaged, you could see an oil spill nearly as big as the Enbridge Line 6B spill in the Kalamazoo River which occurred in July of 2010. It was one of the biggest inland oil spills in the country.
Given the history of the oil industry as some of the very worst stewards of the lands and waters in which they are allowed to operate we can not allow them access to the largest body of fresh water in the world containing approximately 20% of the worlds entire source of fresh water . Spills and/or leaks are almost guaranteed to happen! They are inevitable!
They long term risks are far to great and do not outweigh any of the short term benefits of allowing this pipeline to go forward.
The Enbridge line 5 pipeline and tunnel must be stopped.