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Statement by MiCAN Director Kate Madigan on Attorney General Nessel’s Legal Action to Shut Down Line 5

TRAVERSE CITY – “We applaud Attorney General Dana Nessel for once again standing up for the people of Michigan and seeking a court order for an emergency shut down of Line 5 in light of significant damage to an anchor support that was recently discovered in the Straits of Mackinac. While Governor Whitmer expressed support for the Attorney General’s actions, we are disappointed that the Governor has not yet taken her own action to revoke the easement that allows Enbridge to operate in the Great Lakes. By doing so she is failing to fulfill her duty to protect the Great Lakes.

Enbridge is disregarding the state’s authority by restarting the pipeline and ignoring the Governor’s requests that Line 5 remain shut down until we know it is safe. This is a violation of the company’s obligation to at all times exercise due care and prudence, and this yet another in a sequence of many instances of damage to the 67-year-old pipeline that the company reluctantly discloses and then rushes to paper over. A spill in the Straits would be devastating to Michigan’s drinking water, coastal communities, fisheries, and our way of life. Michigan does not need Line 5 to meet our energy needs, and every day the oil it carries when burned releases pollution that contributes to climate change.”