Enbridge’s opponents (NYSE:ENB) plans to reroute its Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Tribal Reservation, said Wednesday it will submit more than 150,000 comments to federal regulators against the project.
Environmentalists, Tribal Leaders Call on US Military Corps of Engineers to deny Enbridge pristine water permit (ENB) The $450 million plan calls for construction of a recent 30-inch section of Line 5 that would run 41 miles around the reservation and include more than 200 waterway crossings.
“This change of route is this is not a solution“says an Earthjustice attorney representing the Bad River Band, according to S&P Global. “It actually really increases the danger of the pipeline and increases the risk of a catastrophic oil spill.”
Enbridge (ENB) says its Line 5 pipeline is safe after spending billions of dollars to upgrade technology and protocols since the 2010 spill that sent more than 1.2 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River.
The closure would risk closing a refinery in Ohio and propane fractionators in Wisconsin and Michigan, the company said in a statement to S&P Global.
The pipeline is Ontario’s primary source of propane, supplying two-thirds of the province’s crude oil needs and half of its refinery’s gasoline production, as well as meeting 55 per cent of Michigan’s crude oil needs with featherlight crude oil, featherlight synthetic crude oil and liquefied natural gases that are refined into propane.