The U.S. State Department has extended the public comment period on a proposal to nearly double the amount of crude oil that's shipped in a pipeline along Lake Superior.
Enbridge Energy’s Line 67, also known as the “Alberta Clipper” pipeline, runs from the tar sands region in Canada down to Wisconsin near Lake Superior. In the US, it's more than 300 miles long and three feet in diameter.
Right now, Enbridge Energy ships 450,000 barrels a day through the pipe. The company wants to ramp up to 880,000 barrels per day by 2015.
Enbridge says it needs to meet rising demand from oil refineries.
This is not the Enbridge pipeline that ruptured in Marshall in 2010, creating the worst inland oil spill in US history. But Line 67 is a part of the same “Lakehead System” that sends the oil to refineries in Detroit and beyond.
Cleanup efforts on sections of the Kalamazoo River are still underway. The company estimates the cleanup will cost it around a billion dollars.
People now have until Monday at midnight to weigh in on the Line 67 proposal.
