(WWJ) Governor Gretchen Whitmer is taking legal action to force the shutdown of the Line 5 Pipeline that links Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
Whitmer's order set a deadline for May of 2021 for the pipeline to be shut down.
The state claimed Enbridge repeatedly violated the 1953 Easement allowing the company to operate dual pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac to transport petroleum and other products.
The Easement, therefore, is being "revoked and terminated," according to a release from the Governor's office
Whitmer also argued operating dual pipelines interferes with Michigan's "solemn duty" to protect the Great Lakes under the public trust doctrine.
"Here in Michigan, the Great Lakes define our borders, but they also define who we are as people," Whitmer said in a release. "Enbridge has repeatedly refused to take action to protect our Great Lakes and the millions of Americans who depend on them for clean drinking water and good jobs…Most importantly, Enbridge has imposed on the people of Michigan an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes that could devastate our economy and our way of life."
Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) director Dan Eichinger said the state came to the decision after reviewing nearly 70 years of Enbridge's history.
"Enbridge's historic failures and current non-compliance present too great a risk to our Great Lakes and the people who depend on them," Eichinger said.
"Transporting millions of gallons of petroleum products each day through two 67-year-old pipelines that lie exposed along the entire span of a busy shipping channel presents an extraordinary and unacceptable risk," the release read. "The dual pipelines are too vulnerable to anchor strikes, similar dangerous impacts and the inherent risks of pipeline operations."
According to the state, Enbridge revealed the pipelines were struck and dented multiple times by anchors accidently dropped between 2018 and 2020.
In a statement released after the announcement, Enbridge said the state of Michigan's claims lacked "credible basis."
"This notice and the report from Michigan Department of Natural Resources are a distraction from the fundamental facts," Vern Yu, Executive Vice President and President, said. "Line 5 remains safe, as envisioned by the 1953 Easement, and as recently validated by our federal safety regulator."
He indicated Enbridge will take some sort of legal action in return.
Yu called Line 5 an "essential source of energy" for the Midwestern states, as well as Ontario and Quebec.
The Great Lakes, on the other hand, supply more than one fifth of the world's fresh water. They provide drinking water for 48 million people, including 5 million Michiganders, and support about 1.3 million jobs nationwide.
