The profits of a small group of people outweigh the concerns of thousands
To the Expositor:
What a great disappointment. How disheartening.
Glenn Thibeault, Ontario’s energy minister, recently sent a letter to the State of Michigan in support of continued use of the decrepit, 63-year-oil pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac.
The state up Michigan, which grants the easement for this pipeline, has been accepting comments on a plan to decommission it, a plan supported by legislators, environmental organizations, many businesses, and tens of thousands of citizens on both sides of the U.S/Canada border.
The pipeline, known as Line 5, is operated by Enbridge, a company with an awful safety record—and the company responsible for the worst oil spill in Michigan’s history—when one of its pipes burst, gushing more than a million gallons of heavy crude into the Kalamazoo River.
Line 5 is a disaster waiting to happen. University of Michigan studies call the Mackinac Straits the “worst possible place” for a Great Lakes oil spill, which could pollute up to 720 miles of shoreline along Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Even a moderate spill would foul the entire south shore of Manitoulin Island. Even a moderate spill would cost us in the North thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost income.
Sections of Line 5 are cracked and dented. Some segments have lost over a quarter of their original wall thickness to corrosion. Long stretches under the Straits are unsupported, flexing continuously in the strong currents. In spite of this, 23 million gallons of heavy tar sands crude (thinned with benzene) continue to flow under one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the world.
Several authoritative studies have shown that there are reasonable alternatives to Line 5 and that decommissioning would have little overall economic impact on either side of the border.
And, of course, escalating climate change calamities are making the need to move away from fossil fuels ever more obvious.
As of the first of August, the State of Michigan had received more than 21,000 comments requesting that Enbridge Line 5 be shut down. Unfortunately, Minister Thibeault wrote in support continued flow, seeming to think the profits of a small group of people associated with the petro-chemical industry trump the well being of the Great Lakes, all the people who live, work, and recreate along them, the natural environment, and the Earth’s climate.
What a disappointment.
I wonder if Mr. Thibeault might consider applying for a job in the Trump administration; I’m quite sure he’d be welcome there.
Jim Nies
Kagawong, Ontario and Whitewater, Wisconsin
University of Michigan
