Heavy crude oil is to be banned from a pipeline that runs under a scenic waterway where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet, state officials announced yesterday.
The Great Lakes are deemed to be at greatest risk in the event of a spill of diluted bitumen from Canada’s oilsands.
State officials confirmed that they will also require independent analyses of future alternatives to the pipes and worst-case consequences of a spill.
Options to be explored include building new pipelines that do not cross open waters of the Great Lakes, replacing the existing pipelines, decommissioning them or sticking with the status quo.
Light crude is currently transported through Enbridge’s Line 5 – two pipelines running below the 5 mile wide Straits of Mackinac.
Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner