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 ...
Read more in Bridge ...
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.
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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 ...
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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