State officials say they’re growing increasingly frustrated as Enbridge Energy reports new spots where Line Five has exposed metal. Line Five runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac between lakes Huron and Michigan.
Governor Rick Snyder released a statement following Enbridge’s latest report. He says there’s no imminent threat to the Great Lakes, but he says there are “significant concerns” for the long term.
Guy Jarvis of Enbridge says the line is safe, and the spots where protective coating has been worn off are being repaired. But he says the company has done a poor job of sharing details of how the line is maintained with the public.
“They’re interested to understand as much as they can about the state of those pipelines in the straits, and how we’re operating them.”
We need to be more transparent about all things going on around Line Five, not just the things we think represent the highest potential from a risk perspective.”
We need to change the way we communicate. We understand the public is asking for more. We understand that we need to provide the government officials with more, as well.”
The Michigan Pipeline Safety Commission plans to call Enbridge to testify at its December 11th meeting on the status of Line Five maintenance.
Enbridge says its repaired six of eight bare spots on Line 5. One will be completed before winter makes further repairs impossible. And one will have to wait until next year.