Shut down Endbridge line 5 that runs oil and natural gas under the straights of Macinaw.

Trapper Gus wrote:Among the arguments used by Canadian energy giant Enbridge in support of its Line 5 pipeline that runs through Michigan is that, if it’s closed, there will be a significant impact on energy prices for consumers.

But a new report, released Wednesday, takes issue with that assessment, concluding that any energy increases will be modest if the shutdown is coordinated properly.

https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/new-report-finds-enbridge-line-5-closure-will-cause-little-pain-michigan

RQA wrote:Shutting down Line 5 because there was a spill from another pipeline makes about as much sense as shutting down I96 because there was a fatal accident on I75.

Trapper Gus wrote:

RQA wrote:Shutting down Line 5 because there was a spill from another pipeline makes about as much sense as shutting down I96 because there was a fatal accident on I75.  

No, it's more like a bridge on I75 that was built by the same contractor, following the same standards, and maintained in the same manner, failed on I75 and now all the bridges build by that contractor and maintained in the same way are shut down.

Line 5 had a 50-year design life.  It is 69 years old.  It should have been shut down 19 years ago.

It is also run by a company whose maintenance records and accidents show they are poorly qualified to safely run pipelines.  Before it was "sold" to a separate company to limit liability it was run by Koch Industries, who demanded maximum profits from operations, which forced their managers to reduce or end line maintenance.

It is extremely foolish to allow an oil pipeline to operate, regardless of the intentions of the owners, in an area where when it leaks it will cause to loss of Millions of dollars in state GDP and devastate one of the most visited tourist areas in the state.

A report has found that a shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline would be both commercially and operationally feasible and proposes a number of alternatives for transporting crude oil and natural gas liquids.

PLG Consulting, which advises a variety of industries — including oil and gas — on logistics and supply chain solutions, published the report in October. While PLG notes it has no position on the merits of a shutdown, its report found there are a range of replacements for the pipeline that are both commercially and operationally feasible.

Zurn wrote:The report suggests transporting fuel by alternative means such as rail, Great Lake tankers and wait for it ... other pipelines.

The report offers no assurance that this combination will be safer or better environmentally than line 5.

Trapper Gus wrote:

Zurn wrote:The report suggests transporting fuel by alternative means such as rail, Great Lake tankers and wait for it ... other pipelines.

The report offers no assurance that this combination will be safer or better environmentally than line 5.

Therein lies the problem...

Equating Line 5, which traverses areas which never would recover from a major oil spill and other pipelines which are not crossing such ecologically sensitive areas.

Studies have shown shutting down Line 5 would have little economic or supply impact.

https://michiganadvance.com/2024/03/15/tribes-urge-u-s-to-weigh-in-on-line-5-case-as-appeal-sits-in-court/

Zurn wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:

Therein lies the problem...

Equating Line 5, which traverses areas which never would recover from a major oil spill and other pipelines which are not crossing such ecologically sensitive areas.

Studies have shown shutting down Line 5 would have little economic or supply impact.

https://michiganadvance.com/2024/03/15/tribes-urge-u-s-to-weigh-in-on-line-5-case-as-appeal-sits-in-court/

Trapper posts a link to support his position that Line 5 should be shut down. It is then pointed out to Trapper that his link states that there is no assurance that the alternatives to Line 5 (other pipelines, tankers) will be more environmentally sound than line 5. Trapper then says his link his not accurate!

In a procedural win for Attorney General Dana Nessel, a federal appeals court has remanded her lawsuit aiming to shut down the Line 5 petroleum pipeline back to state court.

In an opinion published Monday, a three-judge panel in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals directed a federal district court to return the case to state court, where Nessel originally filed it shortly after taking office in 2019.

Trapper Gus wrote:

In a procedural win for Attorney General Dana Nessel, a federal appeals court has remanded her lawsuit aiming to shut down the Line 5 petroleum pipeline back to state court.

In an opinion published Monday, a three-judge panel in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals directed a federal district court to return the case to state court, where Nessel originally filed it shortly after taking office in 2019.

https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/judges-return-line-5-case-michigan-court-hand-dana-nessel-win

This just seems so much like what Trump does, motion after motion after motion from Elmbridge until suddenly we have oil all over the beaches of one of the higher-level tourist areas in the state, including Mackinaw Island which was just voted the number one tourist destination in the nation.

Fourteen years after Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline ruptured, spilling up to a million gallons of tar-sands crude oil into a Kalamazoo River tributary, environmental advocates continue to speak out against Enbridge’s pipelines, calling for a shutdown of the company’s controversial Line 5.

At six gatherings on Thursday in Michigan, Wisconsin and Canada, members of the Oil & Water Don’t Mix Coalition, Sierra Club and Sierra Club Canada, Le Vivant se Défend, Water Watchers, Cross Border Organizing Working Group and Stop Line 9 Toronto launched North American Oil Spill Day to draw attention to ongoing concerns of environmental contamination in the Great Lakes.

Activists have long pointed to Enbridge’s Line 5 as a threat to environmental health and Indigenous sovereignty. The pipeline stretches from Northern Wisconsin, through the Straits of Mackinac into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, through the Straits of Mackinac through the Lower Peninsula and into Sarnia, Ontario.

The pipeline transports about 23 million gallons of crude oil and liquid natural gas daily, with opponents saying a rupture of the pipeline would be catastrophic.

Michigan’s Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday rejected a request to rehear its decision to return Michigan Attorney General Nessel’s case against Line 5 to state court, keeping the case in Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court.

While Nessel initially filed the case to shut down the controversial pipeline in 2019 in state court, where it was litigated for more than a year, Enbridge later filed successfully to have the case moved to federal court.

Although Nessel requested to have the case returned to state court from the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Michigan, her initial request was denied. However after requesting an interlocutory appeal, the Court of Appeals determined the case should be heard in the state.

While Enbridge sought to have the decision reheard by the Court of Appeals entire bench of judges, as opposed to the usual three judge panel, their request was denied.

Enbridge also says that in 2016, it paid about $55 million in Michigan property taxes for using land its pipelines cross. Enbridge also pays for about $8 million in salaries to 103 employees in Michigan.