Second oil spill in one week a wakeup call to shut down dangerous Line 5 pipeline

LANSING — The Michigan League of Conservation Voters today issued the following statement after media reports revealed a significant oil spill in the Flint River spilling an estimated thousands of gallons of oil – just days after 5,300 gallons of oil spilled in the St. Mary’s River.

 

“It’s alarming to hear of a second oil spill polluting Michigan waters in less than a week’s time and should be taken as a clear warning of the danger of oil pipelines in our waters,” said Bentley Johnson, federal government affairs director for Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “Our water and our health are clearly threatened and this latest spill in the Flint River should serve as a wakeup call to shut down Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, and protect our state from this ticking time bomb in our Great Lakes.” 

 

News of the Flint River spill comes less than a week after 5,300 gallons of oil spilled in the St. Marys River near the Soo Locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Shipping traffic was halted due to the spill that originated from Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

 

Earlier this month, expert findings revealed significant flaws in Enbridge’s reasoning for keeping Line 5 open, including impacts to gas prices. The findings were part of a lawsuit filed by the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

 

The expert findings contained in the filings show that energy price increases in Michigan and Wisconsin likely would be less than one cent per gallon. In addition, they show that Enbridge consistently makes misleading, overstated, and exaggerated claims about alternatives to Line 5 — the experts show that rail and truck can combine to be viable alternatives and that there is more than enough capacity in our propane supplies and production without imported fuel from Enbridge.

 

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