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Enbridge: Accounting For One Blunder, While Making Another

Enbridge: Accounting For One Blunder, While Making Another

Enbridge Energy reached settlement of $172M for causing the worst inland oil spill in US HISTORY.

The Kalamazoo River has been compromised by the Enbridge oil disaster for six years now and, while recovery has been ongoing, there is clearly more work to do as oil remains present in the river.

While the fine faced by Enbridge will help with the ongoing work of returning the Kalamazoo River to a healthy state, it falls drastically short of the compensation needed to restore the lives of the people, wetlands and water resources devastated by this catastrophe.

It is imperative that Enbridge is held responsible for jeopardizing the health and quality of life for people who live near the infrastructure the company continues to operate.

With a disaster of this scale, writing a check for $172 million cannot be the last measure for Enbridge’s accountability to the Great Lakes State.

Enbridge’s Line 5 beneath the Straits of Mackinac has been found to be in violation of its controversial 1953 easement, which allowed the pipeline to be constructed in the Straits. Enbridge has known about this violation since early 2016 when state leaders notified them of the problem. Unfortunately, both for the company and for the residents of Michigan, repairs have been addressed at a snail’s pace.

Our inaction is leaving a primary source of our state’s drinking water and one of our main economic drivers at serious risk.

The official violation notice issued on August 3rd should serve as a wake up call for all of us.

Because of the risk the Line 5 pipeline poses to our Great Lakes, Michigan must stop oil from flowing along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac as quickly as possible.

given its track record, Enbridge should not be allowed to keep pumping oil through the pristine and turbulent waters of the Straits of Mackinac.

[Cover photo courtesy of National Wildlife Federation]

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