Across the Great Lakes Thursday, activists gathered to mark this week’s anniversary of an oil spill near Marshall.
14 years ago, a ruptured pipeline spewed roughly a million gallons of crude oil that fouled a 35-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River.
The main cleanup took several years and cost more than $1 billion.
In Lansing, Nichole Keway Biber gathered with other activists to criticize the pipeline’s owner, Enbridge.
“They are not responsible stewards. Their safety record is abysmal. Their promises are broken over and over,” said Keway Biber.
Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy said the 2010 spill “transformed” the way the company approaches safety.
“While we greatly regret and accept responsibility for what happened near Marshall, we are extremely proud of what has been done to improve the environment and safety since then,” said Duffy.
During Thursday’s protest in Lansing, the activists were less focused on the events of 14 years ago than they were on the current fight over the future of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline.
Line 5 travels across the Upper Peninsula and down through part of the Lower Peninsula. But the activists are most concerned about the aging pipeline’s path through the Straits of Mackinac.
Keway Biber said if the dual pipeline was to leak in the Straits it would pose a threat to the Great Lakes ecology and economy.
“We say Line 5 is America’s most dangerous pipeline. There’s a reason we say that,” said Keway-Biber.
The activists oppose the company’s plans to build a tunnel to encase the pipeline beneath the Straits.
Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy defended the company’s safety record and tunnel project, calling it a “long-term solution."
“The tunnel will protect the Great Lakes, the people who use them, while keeping energy flowing to the region that millions of people depend on daily,” said Duffy.
Enbridge is currently waiting on the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move ahead.
CORRECTION: A previous story indicated Governor Whitmer "...has attempted to rescind approvals for the project." Governor Whitmer issued an order to shut down Line 5 and has said “get that pipeline out of the water,” but has not taken action to block the construction of the tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac.
Enbridge is among Michigan Public's corporate sponsors.
