LANSING – Based on information it released, Enbridge Energy is in violation of the easement it has with the state in terms of it Line 5 running along the Straits of Mackinac, and the state should require the company to repair the pipeline or close it down if it cannot be repaired in the timeframe required by the easement, a coalition of 22 different groups charged in a letter to Gov. Rick Snyder, Attorney General Bill Schotte and other state officials.
But a spokesperson for Enbridge said the organizations are sensationalizing information the company has put out. “We take very serious the safety” of the pipeline, said Jason Manshum, manager of community relations for liquid pipelines for Enbridge.
Asked if they would go to court to attempt to have the pipeline shut down if the state does not take action, Liz Kirkwood of the group For the Love of Water said there were no plans to file litigation at this time. However, she would not rule it out in future.
Jim Olson, also with the group FLOW, said if the state does not act, Michigan’s citizens and communities could also go to court to compel action on the pipeline.
Speaking at a press conference call, representatives of some 22 groups and a local official who had signed a letter to Snyder and Schuette, DEQ Interim Director Keith Creagh and Natural Resources Interim Director Bill Moritz, said it was clear from materials issued by Enbridge that the 63-year-old pipeline running along the straits bed – which carries light petroleum products – was being operated in violation of the easement Michigan granted the company.
Those violations included maintaining pipeline wall thickness, ensuring proper coatings on the pipeline and having unsupported pipeline structures. In all, the letter says there are eight violations of the easement.
“The state should also put Enbridge on notice that it is in violation of the obligations that are inherent in public trust in the waters, bottomlands, fish, aquatic habitat and protected uses,” the letter said.
While Enbridge has 90 days to make repairs, under the terms of the easement, that may not be possible, the letter said.
In the press call, Kirkwood said public concern about the safety of the pipeline “is at a fever pitch. Time is of the essence.” The state, she said, has a duty to act on ensuring the easement is met.
Also speaking at the conference, James Tamlyn, chair of the Emmett County Board of Commissioners and a resident of Mackinaw City, said that while he believed the safest way to transport oil and natural gas is through pipelines, Line 5 is more than 60 years old and an independent review of the line is needed.
If there were to be a leak, especially one in winter when the straits are clogged with ice, “it would be pretty mind boggling,” he said.
The information the group released on Wednesday was presented to Schuette’s office on Monday. Andrea Bitely, spokesperson for Schuette, said the information is being reviewed and the task force on the safety of the line is “actively working” to “get all needed studies done as soon as possible.”
But, given that it may be another year before an independent study is completed of the line (the state is still seeking interest from different companies on conducting the study), the groups speaking Monday said that may be too big a risk for the state to face.
Ed Timm, a retired petroleum engineer with Dow Chemical, said the information Enbridge put on its website – what he called “little snippets” – makes it clear that the pipeline “no longer conforms” to the requirements of the easement.
For example, the pipeline walls are supposed to be nearly an inch thick, but Mr. Timm said the Enbridge site said there were “mill anomalies” on some of the pipeline pieces. Plus there was at least one section of corrosion. Those would indicate the pipeline wall is no longer as thick as it needs to be in some sections.
“Rust never sleeps,” he said, and as the pipeline is steel and been underwater for 60 years, “of course, the pipe is corroded.”
But Manshum of Enbridge said the anomalies are all on sections of pipe that are onshore. Nor is there any corrosion in the pipe that runs underwater, he said. The company has equipment that can detect changes inside the pipes a small as 0.1 of a millimeter, he said.
Timm also said the easement required that the pipe be coated with cloth and wrapped in wooden slats. There are photographs of the pipe before it was laid that shows it coated and with slats, but photographs of the underwater pipe shows the slats have clearly vanished after being exposed to the water.
Manshum said that the coatings and the slats were to protect the pipes during transit from manufacture to the straits and not to be used in the water.
Timm also said there are sections of the pipeline that are unsupported as the gravel bed it was laid on has vanished over the years through tidal action. Manshum said much of the bed has vanished, but the company has been supporting the pipeline as needed and within the guidelines the easement requires.
This story was published by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on www.gongwer.com
