Michigan’s energy chief says damage to the protective coating on an oil and gas pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac was worse than initially reported.
Valerie Brater directs the Michigan Agency for Energy. She says Enbridge Energy initially reported small sections of Line Five’s protective coating were accidentally worn off down to the metal while underwater safety anchors were being installed.
Brater says the places where metal is showing are much larger than Enbridge said they were, and she says company was too slow to repair the damage.
Enbridge says repairs and further inspections of Line 5 should begin next week.
Parts of the coating were removed while workers installed safety anchors on a portion of Line 5 that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
The patches where the metal was scraped bare are close to a foot in diameter, much larger than Enbridge initially reported.