Sunday, December 15, 2019
Friday, December 13, 2019
Emails show Enbridge private security keeping tabs on activists in the Straits of Mackinac
Interlochen Public Radio has obtained emails between a private security contractor working for Enbridge Energy and several law enforcement agencies near the Straits of Mackinac.
The emails show the contractor kept tabs on anti-Line 5 activists (known as water protectors) in the Straits of Mackinac this summer. He shared information about their camp, protests and social media posts with local law enforcement.
The contractor, David Egeler, is employed by a firm called Merrills Investigations. He also appears to be a former commander at the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Detroit dock collapse is a wake-up call
Justin Onwenu, Sierra Club Michigan staff
Last week, a southwest Detroit dock thought to be contaminated with uranium collapsed into the river. Authorities have assured the public that there is little to no risk of uranium exposure in our water sources based on extensive tests done on the Detroit River and soil tests done on site.
Let me be clear: Not having uranium in the Detroit River is great news, but it’s also a ridiculously low bar to set for public safety and healthy waterways. This may not be the public health crisis that many feared at first glance, and for that we should be relieved, but there is still a lot at stake.
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Friday, December 6, 2019
We’re changing the rules for factory farms in Michigan
We’re changing the rules for factory farms in Michigan. But the common sense gains we’ve made are under attack by Big Ag. Even so, we know it’s not inevitable that factory farms continue to dominate our food supply at the expense of healthy and sustainable family farms.
Michigan alone contains 272 factory farms, or “concentrated animal feeding operations” (CAFOs), as they are known in regulatory parlance. These operations are anything but small businesses with a few dozen cows or hogs. They’re industrial-scale operations with thousands of animals that produce enormous amounts of waste -- waste that contains a toxic slurry of manure, chemicals, pathogens, and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. This waste runs off frozen and snow-covered fields, into our lakes and streams, and is a major contributor to the toxic algae blooms that shut down Toledo’s drinking water and make swimming and fishing in Lake Erie a potentially deadly experience.
Read more in Bridge ...
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Thursday, December 5, 2019
What divides us ... is Enbridge
Pat Egan, Retired Publisher, Chair - Chapter Finance comm
If you look at a map of the pipe called Line 5 crossing the Upper Peninsula, you see that it clearly splits the peninsula in two. The Canadian company that owns and profits by that pipeline has done an expensive and successful campaign to divide the peninsula’s neighbors in two as well. We are fighting over this pipeline, and it is an Enbridge Inc.-sponsored fight.
Read more ...
If you look at a map of the pipe called Line 5 crossing the Upper Peninsula, you see that it clearly splits the peninsula in two. The Canadian company that owns and profits by that pipeline has done an expensive and successful campaign to divide the peninsula’s neighbors in two as well. We are fighting over this pipeline, and it is an Enbridge Inc.-sponsored fight.
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State Should Yank Enbridge’s Permits in the Straits of Mackinac
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Contact: David Holtz, david@davidholtz.org, 313-300-4454
State Should Yank Enbridge’s Permits
in the Straits of Mackinac Following
Lengthy Delay In Disclosing Equipment
Failure and Marine Debris
State Must Independently Inspect Line 5 Oil Pipeline For Damage
Citizens groups today called on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration to withdraw Enbridge’s state permits and put a halt on future activity in the Straits of Mackinac in the wake of the Canadian oil transport company’s failure to disclose for two months the collapse of equipment during a mechanical failure.
Groups with the Oil & Water Don’t Mix coalition also said the state must independently inspect Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipelines to determine whether marine debris from the collapse damaged the controversial oil pipelines at the bottom of the Straits. Enbridge claims it did not.
“Enbridge lies and Enbridge’s pattern and practice of hiding Line 5 oil spills, Line 5 damage and Line 5 corrosion must stop today,” said Sean McBrearty, Oil & Water Don’t Mix Coordinator. “Enbridge thinks it is above the law and can simply apologize for violating the state’s rules and then move on as if nothing happened. The state should put a halt to all Enbridge activities in the Straits until there is an independent evaluation by the state of any damage or the potential for future damage resulting from Enbridge failures.”
“Enbridge’s unlawful behavior was tolerated by the previous administration,” said McBrearty. “We have seen that a failure of law enforcement simply encourages more of the same flaunting of environmental rules by Enbridge meant to protect the Great Lakes. Gov. Whitmer must prioritize protecting the Great Lakes and to do that she cannot just allow business as usual from Enbridge.”
Published reports say a 40-feet long piece of three-inch drill rod became lodged beneath the lakebed during boring operations, and another 45-feet long piece of equipment fell on top of the lakebed on Sept. 12. Enbridge didn’t report the incident to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy until Nov. 19. Enbridge claims it can’t remove the debris until next spring. While they say their boring work is complete, their permit from the state won’t expire until 2024 unless the state withdraws it sooner.
Over the past five years Enbridge has violated its easement agreement with the state by failing to disclose pipeline damage, corrosion and numerous missing pipeline support structures. In 2016 it was disclosed that Enbridge kept an Upper Peninsula oil spill hidden for 30 years, including the excavation of 825 tons of contaminated soil from the Hiawatha National Forest.
“The state has a public trust duty to protect the Great Lakes and we expect state officials to demonstrate responsibility for doing so,” said McBrearty. “State environmental officials should immediately pull Enbridge’s permit and independently inspect Line 5 for possible damage and then send Enbridge the bill.”
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Oil & Water Don’t Mix is a broad campaign of organizations, citizens and businesses across Michigan who are working to keep oil out of our Great Lakes by shutting down the dangerous 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.
Site contaminated with uranium partially collapses into Detroit River
Heavy machinery move tons of crushed stone around the Detroit, Michigan shoreline at Detroit Bulk Storage Wednesday. Historic Fort Wayne is shown behind.
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Monday, November 18, 2019
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Enbridge Pulls Fake Michigan Media Ads - But Can’t Erase It’s Real Track Record
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Enbridge Pulls Fake Michigan Media Ads
But Can’t Erase It’s Real Track Record
The following statement can be attributed to David Holtz, spokesperson for Oil & Water Don’t Mix
After promoting fake ads all summer in a slick paid statewide media campaign, Line 5 owner Enbridge has now reportedly apologized for misleading the public. Enbridge’s ads are headlined, “We’re working to protect Michigan’s water.” Nothing could be further from the truth than that headline and those Enbridge ads, which seek to portray the Canadian energy transport company responsible for 2010’s largest oil pipeline rupture in Michigan history as a good environmental steward of the Great Lakes.
If all Enbridge was doing was lying to the public in this fake ad, their apology would be accepted and that might be the end of the story. But while Enbridge can photoshop away a NOAA logo and use a NOAA scientist to make Enbridge look like Great Lakes water protectors, the Canadian company’s awful track record can’t be so easily erased.
In the ads, Enbridge featured a government scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory working in the Straits of Mackinac, but removed his government logo to make it look like he was from Enbridge.
The NOAA scientist in the ad -- not Enbridge -- is working to protect Great Lakes water quality. And it is NOAA that will have to help deal with the consequences of an Enbridge oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac from Line 5, which may explain why Enbridge’s fake ad was particularly offensive to NOAA Great Lakes workers. Enbridge, of course, put out their fake ad without asking or receiving permission from NOAA. Meanwhile, Michiganders, who come by their love for the Great Lakes honestly, are supporting Attorney General Dana Nessel’s efforts to decommission Enbridge’s Line 5 in the Mackinac Straits.
Consider Enbridge’s awful track record:
- Enbridge’s negligence caused the largest oil pipeline rupture in Michigan history near Marshall nine years ago but they were allowed to construct an even bigger pipeline to replace the old Line 6B that ruptured.
- Enbridge’s track record includes $177 million in civil penalties, $1.3 billion in damages and more than 2.3 million gallons of spilled oil.
- Less than two years ago, Enbridge agreed to pay a $1.8 million fine for failing to thoroughly inspect its pipelines for weaknesses as required under a 2016 agreement that covers their dangerous Line 5.
- Enbridge lied about Line 5 safety when it knew that since 2003 numerous bottom support anchors were missing and failed to disclose it until 2017, nine months after a report documented that pipeline spans of up to 286 feet had no anchor support. Enbridge violated its easement agreement with the state but is now suing to force the state to accept additional agreements that would keep Line 5 operating.
- In 2017 Enbridge claimed that missing protective coatings along the Straits pipeline were a mere “hypothetical” possibility, while at the same time a video in their possession showed areas of missing coatings and the company had known of bare spots since 2014..
- Enbridge’s claims about Line 5 pipeline safety were put to the test when an anchor was deployed in the Straits of Mackinac in April 2018 denting and gouging Line 5. Enbridge’s technology failed that test when, despite the damage to Line 5, no warnings were triggered and it was three weeks before underwater vehicles contracted by Enbridge could safely navigate the turbulent Straits to put eyes on the damage.
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Sunday, September 15, 2019
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Great Lakes toxic algae : call-in Thursday, Sept 12
If you're concerned about the toxic algae problem in our Great Lakes, please join our call-in on Thursday, Sep. 12! Our Great Farms Great Lakes Michigan coalition is having a Call-In Day to Governor Whitmer to tell her NO manure pollution for Michigan. We need your help spreading the word. Here are a few ways you can take action:
- Make the call to Governor Whitmer’s office this Thursday. Use this number (855-980-2268) and you’ll be reminded to say your name, location and that you urge Governor Whitmer to ban manure spreading on frozen and snow covered ground.
- Invite your Michigan friends to the facebook event, then we’ll remind them to make a call on Thursday.
- Commit to getting 5 friends to make the call. Here is how you might ask them via text, email or messenger,
- “Hi there, I just made a call to ask Governor Whitmer to ban manure pollution in Michigan. The irresponsible application of cow manure to frozen ground on Michigan factory farms causes waste to run off into our waterways, feeding toxic algae blooms that destroy our drinking water. We need a large number of calls but it only takes each person a minute! Can you make a quick call to her to ask her to do the same? 855-980-2268
- Want to do more? On Thursday, try a Facebook live video telling people to call with a sign that says, “Call Governor Whitmer, stop manure pollution 855-980-2268”
Two big talking points:
- Michigan has almost 300 factory farms and voluntary waste management rules around manure spreading.
- Over 80% of the nutrient load that causes toxic algal blooms in Lake Erie comes from agricultural practices (like winter manure spreading).
Resources for you:
Thanks!
Gail Philbin
Michigan Chapter Director
Office: 616-805-3063
Cell: 312-493-2384
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Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Being a black tree hugger has taught me that we must engage all citizens to fight climate crisis
Activists, journalists, politicians and voters must transcend the cultural, racial and political differences to work together
“You’re a black tree hugger, interesting.” When I told my grandparents that I was moving back to Detroit to work as an environmental justice organizer for the Sierra Club they chuckled and called me a tree hugger.
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Sunday, September 1, 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Michigan is tiptoeing around PFAS in dairy agriculture
LANSING, MI — Kay Fritz let the cattle out of the bag in Boston.
Fritz, a toxicologist with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), told the National PFAS Conference audience that Michigan punted on testing an Allegan County dairy farm because it worried about killing the farmer’s business.
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Sunday, August 18, 2019
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
URGE GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TO VOTE NO ON THE PROPOSED RESOLUTION ON THE ENBRIDGE LINE 5 TUNNEL
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Sunday, August 4, 2019
Friday, July 26, 2019
Michigan's worst 'environmental injustice' areas ID'd
Keith Matheny, Detroit Free PressPublished 5:27 p.m. ET July 25, 2019 | Updated 5:40 p.m. ET July 25, 2019
It's a troubling combination for many Michigan residents: daily exposure to heightened environmental risks such as air and water pollution, heavy traffic and contaminated sites, and having those conditions particularly affect the most socially vulnerable populations — the poor, less educated, sometimes with limited English language skills.
It's situations like this that create chronic conditions that activists and regulators call "environmental injustice": pollution — and polluters — frequently besetting those neighborhoods with little means and political voice to do anything about it.
"We’re a vulnerable community," Theresa Landrum, a southwest Detroit resident and environmental activist living in the shadow of the Marathon Detroit Refinery and other polluting industries, recently told the Free Press.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Friday, May 17, 2019
North Kent County PFAS Exposure Assessment
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CONTACT: Lynn Sutfin, 517-241-2112, SutfinL1@michigan.gov
North Kent County PFAS Exposure Assessment participants starting to receive results
Invited residents can still participate, urged to call 844-464-7327
Invited residents can still participate, urged to call 844-464-7327
LANSING, Mich. – Blood test results are starting to be sent to participants in the North Kent County per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Exposure Assessment. The PFAs Exposure Assessment is being conducted by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and Kent County Health Department (KCHD) and there is still time for selected residents to participate.
MDHHS and KCHD have been collecting blood samples and surveying residents of North Kent County who were exposed to PFAS through their drinking water since November 2018. Lab tests are measuring 24 PFAS analytes in the blood and it takes about 16 weeks for participants to receive test results. Drinking water samples from wells of participants’ homes are also being analyzed for the same 24 PFAS analytes to compare to the blood levels.
The PFAS Exposure Assessment is evaluating the relationship between drinking water with PFAS and the amount in the body. The assessment has included collecting blood samples and information on their activities that could result in PFAS exposure. Kent County was chosen for this assessment because no other area in Michigan has as many wells exceeding the advisory level nor are any test results as high.
Households were chosen from those that have a drinking water well located within the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) North Kent County environmental investigation area and whose drinking water well has been tested by EGLE or by Wolverine Worldwide’s contractor and found to have PFAS. Two groups were identified to participate – those who had drinking water levels over the US Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water lifetime health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion and those who had drinking water levels of less than 70 parts per trillion. A sampling of homes in each of these two groups were invited to participate.
Residents of selected homes were mailed letters by MDHHS and contacted by phone to confirm their eligibility and enroll them in the assessment. MDHHS staff will soon be visiting selected homes that have not yet enrolled to drop off information about the assessment and how to participate. There are a limited number of planned dates left for selected residents to participate. If you received a letter or phone call from MDHHS and have not responded, MDHHS urges you to call 844-464-7327 to sign up before the assessment ends.
Although knowing your individual PFAS blood level will not predict or confirm any personal health problems, this study will provide much needed data the state can use to assess the impact of drinking water levels on human blood levels, and over time, perhaps contribute to the greater understanding of PFAS-related health issues at the population level.
PFAS have been used globally during the past century in manufacturing, firefighting foam and thousands of common household and other consumer products. These chemicals are persistent in the environment and in the human body – meaning they don’t break down and can accumulate over time. In recent years, experts have become increasingly concerned by the potential effects of high concentrations of PFAS on human health. Given the widespread use of PFAS, most humans and animals have some amount of PFAS in their blood, even without exposure directly to contaminants from a specific hazardous site. The public health implications of consuming elevated levels of PFAS are being studied worldwide.
MDHHS and KCHD are working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the EGLE to investigate PFAS contamination in the county.
For more information about PFAS and the State of Michigan's PFAS response, visit the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team website Michigan.gov/pfasresponse.
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Thursday, May 16, 2019
Citizen sleuths exposed pollution from a century-old Michigan factory, with nationwide implications
By Sara Talpos
ROCKFORD, MICHIGAN—For more than a century, a sprawling tannery here on the banks of the Rogue River churned out leather used to make some of the country's most popular shoes. The factory emitted a putrid stink, but it enabled this city of roughly 6000 people to thrive. "That's the smell of money," some locals used to say.
In 2009, however, shifts in the shoe trade prompted the tannery's owner, Wolverine Worldwide, which is based here, to close the facility. In a 2010 request for state funds to help redevelop the 6-hectare site, which sits astride a picturesque business district, lawyers representing the company stated: "There is no known contamination on the property."
Lynn McIntosh, a piano teacher and writer who has lived just a block from the tannery for more than 25 years, was skeptical. The statement was "legalese laced with hogwash," she recalls thinking when she read it.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Photos and video of anchor-strike damage to Line 5 released
The video and photos given to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation show a gash across the east pipeline, and several dents and scrapes on the west pipeline. In written testimony Enbridge identifies three dents on the pipelines caused by the anchor strike, the longest was more than 23 inches.
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