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Sunken Hazard: Aging Oil Pipelines Beneath the Straits of Mackinac an Ever-Present Threat to the Great Lakes

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Sunken Hazard: Aging Oil Pipelines Beneath the Straits of Mackinac an Ever-Present Threat to the Great Lakes Sunken hazard Aging oil pipelines beneath the Straits of Mackinac an ever-present threat to the Great Lakes Photo credits: MDOT Photo/Video Unit, iStock Photo. SUNKEN HAZARD: AGING OIL PIPELINES BENEATH THE STRAITS OF MACKINAC AN EVER-PRESENT THREAT TO THE GREAT LAKES Prepared by Jeff Alexander J. Alexander Communications and Beth Wallace National Wildlife Federation Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the following reviewers: Andy Buchsbaum (Great Lakes Regional Executive Director, NWF), Mike Murray (Staff Scientist, NWF), Frank Szollosi (Regional Outreach Coordinator, NWF) Peter Lafontaine (Energy Policy Advocate, NWF), Felice Stadler (Director of Operations, Global Warming Solutions, NWF), Jim Murphy (Senior Counsel, NWF), Lori-Ann Burd (contract Attorney, NWF), Sara Gosman (Adjunct Professor, University of Michigan Law School), Luke Clyburn (President NOF/Captain USMM), Elliot Smith (retired Marine Biologist). This report was commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation, which is solely responsible for the content of this report. The views expressed in this report are those of the National Wildlife Federation and do not necessarily represent the views of reviewers. contents 2 Scenic Waters Conceal A Major Oil Spill Hazard 3 An Oil Spill in the Straits of Mackinac Would Cause Enormous Damage, Pose Many Challenges 8 Shoddy Maintenance, Numerous Spills 10 Raising the Stakes: Enbridge Plan to Expand Lakehead Pipeline System Would Increase Spill Risk 11 Tar Sands Crude: Why It Matters for the Great Lakes 12 Key Reasons To Be Concerned About Enbridge Energy’s Oil Pipeline Great Lakes Regional Center in the Straits of Mackinac 213 West Liberty Street, Suite 200 14 Recommendations Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1398 14 Immediate Pipeline Operation and Maintenance 734-887-7116 14 Recommendations for States within the Great Lakes Basin www.nwf.org/greatlakes 15 National recommendations for pipeline safety Copyright 2012 National Wildlife Federation. 16 Sources of Information All rights reserved. Sunken hazard: aging oil pipeline S beneath the Strait S of Mackinac an ever-pre Sent threat to the g reat lakeS 1 IntRODUCTION Scenic Waters Conceal A Major Oil Spill Hazard otorists who travel over the Mackinac Bridge in It’s not an empty risk: the pipelines are owned and northern Michigan are treated to one of the most operated by Canadian-based Enbridge Energy and Line 5 is Mspectacular vistas in all the Great Lakes. part of the Lakehead system—one of the largest networks The five-mile-long bridge crosses a vast expanse of of pipelines in the world. Enbridge Energy is the same firm cobalt water that extends far to the east and west, well responsible for the largest and most costly inland oil spill in beyond the reach of the naked eye. The view is sublime, American history. These interstate pipeline networks are breathtaking. regulated federally by the Pipeline and Hazardous From the bridge, which peaks at 199 feet above the Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which is a Straits of Mackinac, sightseers have a bird’s eye view of federal agency under the Department of Transportation waters that mark the confluence of Lake Michigan and that enforces pipeline safety rules and regulations. Lake Huron. What they cannot see from the bridge, or An Enbridge pipeline that ruptured near Marshall, anywhere else, is a looming threat that could devastate Michigan, in July 2010 dumped about one million gallons the upper Great Lakes. of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River system. Federal Just west of the Mackinac Bridge, below the water’s investigators were scathing in their critique, likening surface, lie two pipelines, called line 5, that carry a Enbridge to the “Keystone Kops” and determining that total of 20 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas Enbridge could have prevented the disaster if the com- fluids each day from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, pany had properly maintained the pipeline and fixed Ontario. The pipelines were placed in the Straits of dozens of known defects. Mackinac in 1953—the year President Dwight Eisenhower The Enbridge pipelines that cross the Straits of took office and one year before McDonald’s opened its Mackinac have never spilled oil into the conjoined waters first burger joint. of lake Michigan and Huron, according If either of those pipelines leaked, the resulting oil to government officials. But evidence is slick would likely devastate some of the lakes’ most mounting that there is reason to be the lakes and bountiful fisheries, wildlife refuges, municipal drinking concerned. their connecting water supplies and one of the region’s most popular The Line 5 pipeline that crosses tourist attractions: Mackinac Island. A significant rupture the Straits has a history of problems, channels contain would cause an Exxon-Valdez scale oil spill spreading just like the company that owns it. more than 90% through Lakes Huron and Michigan, the heart of the Pipelines deteriorate as they age, of the freshwater largest freshwater seas in the world. according to engineering experts, and of the united States and 20% of the world’s supply of fresh Photo credit: Kathy Towler, NWF. surface water. Sunken hazard: aging oil pipeline S beneath the Strait S of Mackinac an ever-pre Sent threat to the g reat lakeS 2 the Line 5 pipes at the Straits have been subjected to fierce underwater currents, intense external pressure and varying water temperatures for nearly 60 years. Compounding the threat is the fact that the pipelines An Oil Spill in cross the world’s largest source of surface freshwater, a sensitive ecosystem that cannot readily cope with large the Straits of quantities of crude oil. Additionally, Enbridge has set out to expand its Mackinac Would Lakehead System—which includes Line 5—to carry more diluted bitumen and tar sands oil from western Canada. All of the lines within the Lakehead System transport Cause Enormous Alberta tar sands-derived crude oil. Most concerning is the transportation of diluted raw tar sands oil or diluted Damage, Pose bitumen (DilBit). Transportation of this product requires higher operating pressures, which in turn heats the line Many Challenges and could pose significantly higher risks of spills. 1 he Straits of Mackinac in northern Michigan is a Toxic and heavy tar sands oil engulfs the Kalamazoo River during the 2010 unique area of the Great Lakes, a four-mile-wide Enbridge oil spill in Marshall, Mich. Photo credit: MIDEQ. Tchannel that funnels colossal amounts of water between Lakes Michigan and Huron. Powerful storm-driven currents that cause water to oscillate back and forth between the two lakes can move water through the Straits at a rate of three feet or more per second. At times, the volume of water flowing beneath the Mackinac Bridge is 50 times greater than the average flow of the St. Clair River, one of the largest rivers in the Great Lakes basin. 2 Those currents also make the Straits one of the worst places in the Great Lakes for an oil spill. There are few other places in the lakes where an oil spill could spread so quickly. A spill from Enbridge Energy’s underwater oil pipe- lines—which carry 20 million gallons of oil and natural gas fluids across the Straits every day—could contaminate nearby municipal drinking water intakes, devastate some of the Great Lakes best fisheries, poison wildlife and cast In this report, National Wildlife Federation examines the history of the Enbridge pipelines that cross the Straits of Mackinac, Enbridge’s environmental track record and “ An oil leak at the bottom of the Straits of what could happen if the pipes sprang a leak and pumped Mackinac would raise as many questions crude oil into the northernmost reaches of lakes Michigan about potential impacts to fish and other and Huron. This report is intended to point out the immediate aquatic life as we had after the 2010 BP spill need for proactive and consistent action to properly in the Gulf of Mexico, and we are still learn- safeguard our Great Lakes from pipeline spills. History ing about impacts from that spill over two has proven that agencies and pipeline operators continue years later. With these pipelines on the bot- to favor a reactionary approach to pipeline oversight. tom of the Straits, the combination of heavier Unless action is taken, an oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac isn’t a question of if—it’s a question of when. oil, colder temperatures, and complex cur- We cannot allow Enbridge to play Russian roulette rents would cause extraordinary clean-up with the Straits of Mackinac. This report is a call for action challenges.” to prevent Enbridge Energy’s widening oil stain from MichAel Murray, stAff scIentIst, reaching North America’s freshwater seas. GreAt Lakes RegIonAl centeR, NWF Sunken hazard: aging oil pipeline S beneath the Strait S of Mackinac an ever-pre Sent threat to the g reat lakeS 3 Enbridge claims the portion of Line 5 that crosses the Straits has never leaked, but the company has never made public the reports that document the condition of the pipes. The federal government doesn’t require oil companies to release pipeline inspection reports. The risk of an oil spill in the Straits is ever-present and there is growing cause for concern. Consider: > The pipes that cross the Straits were installed nearly 60 years ago and pipelines corrode over time. Enbridge has never replaced the original pipelines. > Material, welds and equipment failures are the most common source of leaks from oil pipelines in the U.S. > Pipeline operators can switch between products transported in a line without warning or notice to the public, first responders or regulators. This is the case even when the product transported requires different operations.
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