GOOD Vote on Line 5 at MI Pipeline Safety Advisory Board today

The Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board today backed in passing three resolutions brought by the enviro and public interests today when all the state officials, Enbridge and Marathon reps on the Board abstained from the votes.  They failed to study their own bylaws/meeting protocols and we caught them when they thought that the measures failed because there was a majority of abstentions. Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Conservation Chair and former Director of the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club, was able to track down they meeting guidelines, which cite Roberts Rules, and found that Robert Rules says that abstentions don't count toward the vote, just to the quorum.  It was lovely to have about half the Board be stunned that the Board passed these resolutions.

Here are some stories on it, and NWF's and Oil and Water Don't Mix's statements:

Washington Post: Michigan panel urges temporary shutdown of Mackinac pipeline

MLive.com: Pipeline board advises Line 5 shutdown until repairs are made

Detroit News: State pipeline panel to Snyder: Halt Line 5 for now

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 11, 2017

Contact: Drew YoungeDyke, National Wildlife Federation, 734-887-7119, youngedyked@nwf.org

Pipeline Safety Advisory Board Passes Resolutions Calling for Temporary Shutdown of Line 5

LANSING, MI --- Members of Michigan’s Pipeline Safety Advisory Board (PSAB) passed formal resolutions - including a temporary shutdown of Line 5 - today at their quarterly meeting urging the State of Michigan to amend its agreement with Enbridge on Line 5, which Governor Snyder signed without consulting the PSAB in November. 

The resolutions call for a shutdown of Line 5 until the entire line is inspected for protective coating gaps and all gaps are filled, and modify the definition of “adverse weather conditions” to a higher standard than eight-foot waves, which triggered a temporary shut down last week. An additional resolution calls for the state to more fully study Michigan’s needs from Line 5, including alternatives that focus on the needs for Michigan over the business interests of Enbridge. 

“These resolutions seek to strengthen the agreement the Governor signed with Enbridge so that it actually does what it purports to do: provide a path forward for determining the future of Line 5 while protecting the Great Lakes,” said Mike Shriberg, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center and a member of the Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, who co-sponsored the resolutions. “While the few services Line 5 provides to Michigan have been shown to have feasible alternatives, there is no substitute for the Great Lakes and our way of life.”

On November 27, Governor Rick Snyder announced an agreement with Enbridge to study a tunnel replacement for Line 5, one of the alternatives included in a state-commissioned alternatives analysis released just a week before. The Pipeline Safety Advisory Board was not consulted in the agreement, which included a trigger for a temporary shutdown of flow through the pipeline in “adverse weather conditions,” defined as when waves reached an average of eight feet. While those conditions were met last week, the resolutions urge that definition to be modified to three feet and include ice cover and other conditions when the Coast Guard would be impeded from an oil spill response. 

All three resolutions, introduced by Mike Shriberg, R. Craig Hupp and Jennifer McKay, were passed by the Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, with support from the sponsors, as well as Homer A. Mandoka and Chris Shepler, and the rest abstaining. There was one “no” vote on the resolution to temporarily shut down Line 5 until coating gaps are repaired. Resolutions adopted by the PSAB are advisory and not binding upon the state. 

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Drew YoungeDyke Communications Coordinator National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center 734-887-7119 www.nwf.org Uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, Dec. 11, 2017

Contact: Sean McBrearty, Oil & Water Don’t Mix, 616-516-7758

Statement from Oil & Water Don’t Mix on Pipeline Safety Advisory Board Meeting

LANSING – Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for Oil & Water Don’t Mix, issued the following statement on today’s meeting of the Pipeline Safety Advisory Board:

“The Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, led by members representing Michigan businesses, communities and Tribes, took a promising step forward today by acknowledging the 64-year-old Line 5 pipelines are unsafe to operate, and we look forward to continuing to work with all PSAB members, Attorney General Bill Schuette and Governor Rick Snyder to shut down these dangerous, outdated pipelines as soon as possible.” 

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Oil & Water Don’t Mix is a broad campaign of businesses, organizations and citizens across Michigan who are working to keep oil out of our Great Lakes by shutting down the dangerous, 64-year-old Line 5 Pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. The campaign fights for clean water and air, Indigenous rights, reducing pollution, sustainable economies and protecting sporting, tourism and jobs that are dependent on our water and Pure Michigan way of life. Learn more at www.oilandwaterdontmix.org.