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TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer filed a lawsuit Friday to shut down an oil pipeline that carries oil under a channel that connects two of the Great Lakes.
Whitmer’s office notified the Canadian company that it was revoking an easement granted in 1953 to extend an approximately 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of the pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac. The revocation will take effect within 180 days after which the oil flow must stop.
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Legal counsel to the Democratic governor said in a letter to Enbridge that the dismissal resulted from a “violation of the doctrine of public trust” and “a pattern of persistent and long-standing non-compliance with the conditions of easement and due diligence standard ”.
“Enbridge has consistently refused to take action to protect our Great Lakes and the millions of Americans who depend on it for clean water and good jobs,” Whitmer said in a statement. “They repeatedly violated the terms of the 1953 easement by ignoring the structural issues that put our Great Lakes and our families at risk.
“Most importantly, Enbridge has placed the people of Michigan at an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic Great Lakes oil spill that could devastate our economy and our way of life. That is why we are acting now and why I will continue to hold accountable anyone who threatens our Great Lakes and our fresh water.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she filed a lawsuit Friday to enforce Whitmer’s decision and close the line, saying the actions show that “Line 5 poses a great risk to our state and must be removed from our public waterways.
Enbridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The move escalates a multi-year battle over Line 5, part of Enbridge Lakehead’s pipeline system that transports oil from western Canada to refineries in the United States and Ontario. The pipeline transports approximately 23 million gallons (87 million liters) of oil and natural gas liquids daily between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario.
The company claims the submarine segment is in good condition and has never leaked. Environmental groups say it is vulnerable to a rupture that would devastate parts of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
Enbridge entered into an agreement with the government of the day. Rick Snyder, a Republican, in 2018 to replace the submarine segment with a new pipe that would be housed in a tunnel to be drilled through the bedrock below the Straits of Mackinac.
The company is seeking state and federal permits for the project, which is not affected by Whitmer’s shutdown order for the existing pipeline.
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