Bill Seeks Ban on Ships Transporting Heavy Crude on Great Lakes

Scientists have warned that an Great Lakes oil spill couldn’t occur at a worse place than in the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. (Photo via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Michigan’s two U.S. senators announced legislation Wednesday to ban the transport of crude oil by ships or barges on the Great Lakes.

U.S. Sens. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Hills, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, said the Pipeline Improvement and Preventing Spills Act would also require a top-down review of hazardous pipelines in the area and spill-response plans, and force the federal government to expand criteria for identifying areas where spills could present additional environmental risk and require higher standards for pipelines in those areas.

The announcement comes as Canada-based Enbridge Inc. is conducting an emergency response exercise this week for an oil spill at Line 5, the aging twin pipelines that run through the Straits of Mackinac and are now more than 60 years old.

In a statement, the two lawmakers said that though no crude oil is currently being shipped on the Great Lakes, their proposed legislation “keeps it that way.”

Ships are being considered as an option for shipping heavy crude after Michigan officials reached agreement earlier this month to permanently ban Enbridge from using its 4.6-mile No. 5 pipeline under the Straits to ship heavy crude oil. The line now transports light crude, synthetic crude and natural gas.

Last fall, a research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Water Center said that if the pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, which separates Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, were breached, the impact would be felt over a large area in a short amount of time.

Shifting currents would spread the oil quickly, contaminating waters, coastline and wildlife throughout lakes ecosystems.

A spill in the Great Lakes would be complicated by the lack of research on the effects and cleanup of oil spills in bodies of fresh water, especially under heavy ice cover. Current methods of oil spill response and cleanup, such as oil dispersants and mechanical recovery, may not be as effective in large bodies of cold, fresh water, the senators said.

In an April 28 Commerce Committee hearing, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul F. Zukunft said he “is not comfortable” with current contingency plans for a worst-case scenario spill in the Great Lakes, according to the statement.

Michigan officials know too well the far reaching effects of oil spills after an Enbridge pipeline burst near Marshall in 2010 and sent hundred of thousands of gallons of of heavy crude oil into the Kalamazoo River and its tributaries, resulting in one of the worst inland oil spills in U.S. history.

“One can only imagine what a disaster it would be for a similar oil spill to occur in the Great Lakes, the world’s largest system of fresh surface water,” Stabenow, a member of the Senate’s Great Lakes Task Force, said in a statement. “This commonsense legislation will help us prevent an oil spill in the Great Lakes, whether it’s a tanker accident or a pipeline leak in the Straits of Mackinac, so that we can protect and preserve this ecological treasure for generations to come.”

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which is expected to consider pipeline safety legislation this fall.

The legislation proposed by the Michigan senators would:

• Ban the shipment of crude oil on tanker vessels and barges on the Great Lakes
• Mandate federal studies on pipeline risks in the Great Lakes, including alternatives to Line 5.
• Improve oil spill response plans.
• Increase public information and transparency about pipeline risks.
• Expand the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s criteria for high-consequence areas.

Related

• Enbridge on Notice to Reinforce Pipelines to Avoid Great Lakes Catastrophe
• Coast Guard’s Alarming Warning on Great Lakes Oil Spill
• ‘Pinhole-Sized’ Pipeline Lake Heightens Great Lakes Fears
• Activists: Plug Straits of Mackinac Pipeline Before Catastrophe
• Task Force: Straits of Mackinac Pipeline Wouldn’t Be Allowed Today
• Group Forms Human Oil Drop in Call to Shut Down Pipeline