In the Shadow of America's Smokestacks, Virus Is One More Deadly Risk

By Hiroko Tabuchi

• May 17, 2020Updated 12:39 p.m. ET

This isn’t the first time Vicki Dobbins’s town has been forced to shelter in place.

Last year, the Marathon Petroleum refinery that looms over her neighborhood near Detroit emitted a pungent gas, causing nausea and dizziness among neighbors and prompting health officials to warn people to stay inside. When a stay-at-home advisory returned in March, this time for the coronavirus, “it was just devastating,” Ms. Dobbins said.

Ms. Dobbins, who is 76, later contracted Covid-19, and spent two weeks on oxygen in intensive care. Now she has a question. “Do the polluters in our area make us more susceptible to asthma, bronchitis, heart failure, cancers?” she asked. “Is the virus just going to be one of the ones added to that list?”

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Young Tribal Members Challenge Oil Companies in Court Action

Young Tribal Members from Northern Michigan filed a “exclusion and removal” Complaint in the  Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Tribal Court.  (A copy of that Complaint, with sensitive information removed, is attached).

While the world is quite reasonably concerned with the global coronavirus pandemic, young Tribal members took this action as their contribution to the world’s 50th Earth Day global activities, calling attention to the Climate Crisis that the world is also facing.

The entire Press Release can be read here —ST Complaint Press Release

The Complaint can be read here —Complaint-STC-sensitive data removed

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.

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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.

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.

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BREAKING: Line 5 Tunnel Law Unconstitutional - Now Shut Down Line 5!

Leaders of the Oil & Water Don't Mix campaign to protect the Great Lakes from oil pipelines praised actions by Gov. Whitmer today on Line 5 in response to an attorney general’s opinion and urged her to move quickly in decommissioning Enbridge’s troubled Line 5. Attorney General Dana Nessel’s comprehensive, detailed legal analysis requested by Gov. Whitmer concluded that in the lame-duck legislature’s haste to enact Public Act 359 during the closing days of the 2018 session it committed many fatal flaws when drafting the legislation. Attorney General Nessel also concluded related agreements for a Line 5 oil tunnel should be voided along with Public Act 359. In response, Gov. Whitmer issued an executive directive halting state agencies from moving forward on a proposed Enbridge Line 5 oil tunnel. “The backroom deals creating Enbridge’s proposed oil tunnel couldn’t survive public scrutiny and now we know they can’t survive the rule of law,” said Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director of FLOW (For Love of Water). “It’s time to focus on Michigan’s true energy future and protect Michigan’s Great Lakes and our economy from a Line 5 pipeline rupture. The path forward for Michigan is for Gov. Whitmer to immediately begin the process of decommissioning Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.” “By upending the Enbridge sweetheart deals struck by former Gov. Snyder, Attorney General Nessel is protecting Michigan from horrible agreements that only benefit Enbridge,” said Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for Oil & Water Don’t Mix. “The attorney general is rightfully wiping the legal slate clean and now Gov. Whitmer has the opportunity to put Michigan on a path that doesn’t lead to a disastrous outcome for the Great Lakes and Michigan. Her decision to halt all Line 5 activity is a significant and appropriate step forward and has our full support.” Help OWDM counter the media blitz that is sure to come from Enbridge Fund our new social media campaign to spread the truth about Line 5 GIVE NOW Previously Gov. Whitmer asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to focus on Michigan’s energy infrastructure and issue an initial report by July. As part of a plan to decommission Line 5, Gov. Whitmer should make sure that the public service commission includes a focus on the energy needs of Upper Peninsula residents. “Studies have shown that Line 5 is not critical energy infrastructure for Michigan, including the UP,” said Anne Woiwode, Chair of Sierra Club in Michigan. “The public service commission report can be an important tool to point the way to both short and longer term energy solutions for the UP, including alternatives to using Line 5 to transport natural gas liquids used to produce propane.” The Straits of Mackinac Alliance, a group challenging the state permits that allow Enbridge to add 200 anchor supports to buy more time for the 66-year-old Line 5 pipeline, which is well past its expected lifespan, said it is past time to pull the plug on Enbridge’s ticking time bomb. “The time for action by the governor is now,” said Leonard Page, vice chair of the alliance. “Initiating the legal process for decommissioning Line 5 must start immediately so we can finally eliminate this serious risk of an oil spill in the Great Lakes.” “The idea of building new fossil fuel infrastructure with a 99-year lease is nonsensical given the latest science bulletin about climate change,” saidBill Latka of TC350. “The IPCC, an international body of climate scientists, says that we have 11 years to reduce our fossil fuel use by 50 percent. Building a tunnel may not even be started in 11 years. It makes no sense.” Oil & Water Don't Mix looks forward to working with and encouraging Gov. Whitmer and her administration to take the swift action necessary to eliminate this threat to our Great Lakes and curtail Michigan's role as a conduit for climate-warming fossil fuels. David Holtz Oil & Water Don't Mix http://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/ GIVE NOW Learn more about the Movement. Visit: www.oilandwaterdontmix.org Follow on Twitter and Facebook. Oil & Water Don't Mix 602 W Ionia St, Lansing, MI 48933, United States cleanwater@oilandwaterdontmix.org

 

Marathon Oil Noxious Odors Marathon Oil refinery's major malfunction blankets SE Michigan in noxious miasma, community responds with demands for accountability Marathon Oil Emits Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfure Dioxide photo credit: erik howard Stench, stink, reek, fetidness, funk-- call it what you will-- on Feb 2 and 3, residents in SE Michigan was blanketed in a foul odor. The cause? The Marathon Oil refinery, the state's only refinery, experienced a malfunction in a coker flare, which usually burns off these chemicals into the atmosphere, and likely due to the cold polar vortex. Residents closer to the plant began to panic when everyone on the block from S.Dearborn and SW Detroit, were reporting headaches, burning of the eyes and sinuses, dizziness and vomiting. Imagine waking up at 3am not knowing what's happening, your kids are vomiting and you can't breathe-- do you stay or leave? Will it get better or worse? Am I being poisoned? There was no clear answer. By Sunday, some residents were receiving messages from the Dearborn Police Department, some from City of Detroit and some from the State of Michigan saying that there were no elevated readings of pollution in the neighborhoods-- this according to Marathon's self-reporting. Some people got a robo call from the company, others used the internet to gain more info. But there was no single message offering clarity. Sixty residents reportedly called the MDEQ Pollution Emergency line. On February 4 EPA released a report indicating that Marathon Oil released one hundred pounds of hydrogen sulfide and 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide. Providing oversight for air quality monitoring, EPA reported that Marathon recorded 0 emissions. Frustrated by the lack of action, Monday morning elected officials joined residents Theresa Landrum, Meghan Soboscienski, Victor Jimenez, and Christy Beiber who spoke to media in front of Marathon explaining the panic the release caused, the illness people were experiencing, and calling on the government to take immediate action to protect on human health and safety. Yet 40% of Detroit does not have access to internet. On Friday Marathon issued another alert for emissions on 3pm: "Possible ODOR emission due to Marathon repair work. The City Health Department recommends staying indoors: It's clear that a definitive emergency response alert, and plan was not implemented, and that residents are exposed to chemical contamination during malfunctions, and are fighting to be heard and believed. People have the right to breathe, a right to know what they are breathing and when and how that right has been violated. Others have raised questions about the implementation of the Obama Era rules on shutdown start-up and malfunction. This is not the first time Marathon has been called out for pollution releases. In 2016 they paid out a $334 million settlement for pollution in five different states.

Copyright © 2019 Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you care about Environmental Justice and signed up to receive alerts from the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC). Our mailing address is: Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition 1725 Lawndale Detroit, Michigan  48209

Major Investors Pressure Exxon to Set CO2 Reduction Targets

The world's largest oil company is being pressured by major shareholders to take action on climate change.

Institutional investors with an estimated $1.9 trillion under management, led by the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) and the Church Commissioners of England (CCE), filed a shareholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil to set targets for lowering its greenhouse gas emissions, covering emissions from both its operations and the use of its products.

The NYSCRF is the third largest public pension fund in the U.S., with assets of $207.4 billion as of March 31, and the Church of England's investment fund manages investable assets of some £8.3 billion ($10.5 billion), according to the comptroller's office.

Their move—made a day after the critical COP24 climate summit in Poland wrapped up—is similar to the direct shareholder pressure applied to Royal Dutch Shell. After some hard resistance, Shell became the first energy giant earlier this month to set short-term greenhouse gas reduction targets, linking them to executive pay.

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Schmidt calls for shutdown of Enbridge pipeline under the straits during independent investigation

For Immediate Release
April 11, 2018

Contact: Connie Russell                
517-373-2413

LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, issued the following statement on Wednesday regarding the recent damage to Line 5 and other underwater cables beneath the straits:

“I cannot begin to explain my disappointment with what happened last week — not only because of what happened, but how it was handled as well. 

“The communication efforts by Enbridge and ATC were nonexistent. I have been in contact with my federal partners, including Congressman Bergman’s office, and there is a mutual concern that because the communication efforts on behalf of all companies involved were this poor, efforts toward fixing the problem will also be less than impressive. If waiting days for information about something so important is what we’re to expect, I have zero confidence situations like this have been and will be handled in a timely, effective manner.

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Oil & Water Don’t Mix Slams Governor’s Pro-Enbridge Response to Damaged Line 5

Shutting Down Line 5 is the Only Way to Protect the Great Lakes

CONTACT: Sean McBrearty, Oil & Water Don’t Mix, (616) 516-7758

 The following statement can be attributed to Sean McBrearty, Oil & Water Don’t Mix Coordinator:  

“Enbridge has just disclosed dents in the dual pipelines caused by the same vessel that hit two electric cables and spilled 600 gallons of hazardous oils into the Straits last week. There is no question -- the time has come to shut down Line 5.”

“Pipelines do not belong in the Straits of Mackinac, period. Our state’s economy, tourism, and way of life revolves around keeping our Great Lakes in a pristine condition. There’s simply too much at stake to keep Line 5 in operation.”

“This lame duck Governor’s immediate response to allow a new tunneled oil pipeline under the Straits proves what Michiganders have suspected for a long time - this Governor puts a Canadian oil company’s interests before the people of Michigan or the Great Lakes.”

“Rebuilding the pipeline would lock our state into decades more of transporting dirty, dangerous Canadian oil, putting our state and the Great Lakes and other Michigan waterways at grave risk while providing very little benefit to Michigan.”

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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, 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.

Line 5 oil pipeline in Straits of Mackinac dented by ship

Keith Matheny, Detroit Free PressPublished 2:43 p.m. ET April 11, 2018 | Updated 6:14 p.m. ET April 11, 2018

The same "vessel activity" that appears to have damaged submerged electric cables in the Straits of Mackinac last week, causing a leak of 550 gallons of benzene-containing coolant, may have also caused three dents just discovered in the Line 5 oil and natural gas liquids pipeline, also underwater where lakes Michigan and Huron connect.

Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge, which owns and operates Line 5, informed state officials late Tuesday of the dents, characterized as "very small" and posing "no threat to the pipeline," Gov. Rick Snyder's office said in a statement Wednesday.

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Michigan leaders have tunnel vision on Line 5

Jim Olson is founder and president of FLOW (For Love of Water), a Great Lakes water law and policy nonprofit organization.

When we think of “tunnel vision” we think of narrow-mindedness, myopic thinking, or the horses at the start of the Kentucky Derby with blinders, eyes fixed straight ahead on only one option ‒ a one-way, no-return, single track. Applied to the words and actions of our state’s leaders over the last several years to remove the catastrophic risk to the Straits and the Great Lakes from Enbridge Line 5, the phrase could not be more accurate. While putting up the façade of leadership on Line 5, our leaders have in complicity narrowed the alternatives for Line 5 to a new replacement line or tunnel in the Straits.

It started with the rupture in 2010 of Enbridge’s Line 6b that crosses southern Michigan from Indiana to Sarnia, Canada, spilling a million gallons into the Kalamazoo River and costing more than $1 billion in cleanup so far and untold harm to the river, residents, and quality of life. Nearly everyone in Michigan saw the video clips of the black tar balls and ooze, dead fish and waterfowl, the largest oil spill into inland waters in our country’s history. The disaster triggered a number of questions, not the least of which was to look for other aging crude oil pipelines that cross the waters of Michigan. The answer came as a shock – 64-year-old Line 5, a 645-mile long line from Wisconsin across the UP, and, there it was, right there on the Public Service Commission’s (“PSC”) map, in the Straits of Mackinac, then down through Northern Michigan’s to near Port Huron, under the St. Clair River and into Canada. 

‘If you seek a pleasant peninsula...’ 

Governor Snyder responded that there was nothing Michigan could do about Line 5, because the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction and control over Line 5.

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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

____________________________________________

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. 

Residents at Downriver public forum overwhelmingly oppose Enbridge Line 5’s future

Sierra Club member Ed McArdle's photo and comments in this article:

• By Alex Franzen For The News-Herald
 
• Dec 8, 2017 Updated Dec 8, 2017
   

Thad Shumway (left), president and owner of North Bay Energy, spoke in favor of Line 5, while Melvindale resident Edward McArdle opposes it. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Thad Shumway, president and owner of North Bay Energy, a natural gas marketing company in Traverse City, delivers a public comment at the session. Shumway said he wants the pipeline to remain in commission. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Melvindale resident Edward McArdle listens to comments on the final version of the Enbridge Line 5 Alternatives Analysis report after speaking at the state of Michigan’s first public feedback session Dec. 6. McArdle said the only real option is to shut the pipeline that travels through the Great Lakes. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Heidi Grether, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (left); Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan DNR; Tracy Kecskemeti, southeast Michigan district coordinator for the MDEQ; Valerie Brader; executive director of the Michigan Agency for Energy; and Robert Reichel, first assistant attorney general for Michigan, listen to the public comments. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Michiganders voiced their concerns on the future of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline at a public comment session Wednesday night in Taylor.

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