LANSING, MI (WTVB) – Enbridge Energy’s 65-year-old Line 5 pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac are about to be shut down and replaced by pipelines embedded in the bedrock.
Governor Snyder’s office made the announcement Wednesday, saying the Canadian company will pay the entire cost for the tunnel which comes out to nearly a half billion dollars.
Republican Congressman Fred Upton says a lot of permits still have to go through but he added Snyder, “had a pretty big baseball bat” on the matter.
Snyder called out Enbridge in November 2017 when gaps were found in the protective coating on Line 5.
The company claimed at first there were no gaps. Then they said there might be tiny gaps in the coating which was followed by a revelation the gaps were quite large and there were more than previously mentioned.
Snyder issued a strong statement that said “I am no longer satisfied with the operational activities and public information tactics that have become status quo for Enbridge.”
It will take between seven and ten years for the tunnel to be built and the oil and natural gas lines to be moved from the bottom of the lakebed to well underground. The pipelines take oil and natural gas from western Canada to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario and Detroit.
Concerns about Line 5 were raised following the massive 2010 Enbridge oil spill into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River.
