Study: Line 5 Oil Spill Would Foul Large Swaths Of Great Lakes Shore

"More than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of shoreline and 44,000 square kilometers (17,000 square miles) of open water in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan could be at risk if oil spilled from twin 63-year-old underwater pipelines that run below the Straits of Mackinac, according to a study released Thursday by the University of Michigan Water Center and supported by the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center.

It is the latest analysis of the threat posed by Enbridge, Inc.’s Line 5, which carries oil and natural gas products from Canada through the straits pipelines to refineries in southern Michigan and Ontario. The line has been the focus of intense public scrutiny since a 2012 report by the National Wildlife Federation highlighted concerns about the integrity of the aging pipelines, as well as the operating record of Enbridge, the company responsible for a 2010 oil spill into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. That incident was the worst inland oil spill in U.S. history.

Subsequent reports and studies found that the straits, a turbulent 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) stretch of water connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, would be the worst possible place for an oil spill in the Great Lakes because it could quickly spread along shorelines in both lakes, affecting Michigan and Ontario."

Codi Kozacek reports for Circle of Blue March 31, 2016.