“The Governor’s Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board is awaiting two very important reports related to Enbridge’s very controversial Pipeline #5 in the Straits of Mackinac,” says Kirk Heinze on Greening of the Great Lakes. “But a recent Enbridge work plan has raised additional concerns about the pipeline’s integrity.”
To discuss these developments, Heinze welcomes Jennifer McKay, policy director for the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council and a Pipeline Advisory Board member, to the show.
The council, she says, “is a non-profit located in Petoskey, and we speak for the northern Michigan waters. We’re dedicated to protecting our lakes, streams, wetlands and groundwater through a variety of means.”
She says that euphemistically-termed “holiday” areas along Pipeline #5 are actually referenced in an Enbridge work plan, “Biota Investigation Work Plan,” that was filed with the EPA in Sept. of 2016.
“Holiday is a term the industry uses for areas of the pipeline where there is a loss of coating around the pipe. They identified areas along the pipeline where these holidays have been identified and that they plan on sampling. This has raised significant concern and a number of questions. How does this impact the integrity of the pipeline?
“Enbridge clearly identified where the holidays are. They marked them on a map. They have a level of specificity that precludes any type of hypothetical. Again, the big question is what is the extent of coating loss, and how is that impacting the integrity of the pipeline.”
Greening of the Great Lakes airs inside MSU Today every Sunday at 4:00 on AM 870.