Michigan activists delivered a petition to Governor Whitmer on Monday calling for the shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline.
The petition calls for decommissioning the oil pipeline beneath the straits of Mackinac and says the proposed tunnel for housing the pipeline is “not a solution to protect the Great Lakes.”
Even without a spill, the petition continues, the oil “adds to our climate crisis when burned by spilling into our atmosphere every day.”
David Holtz is with the Oil and Water Don’t Mix Campaign. He said the pipeline is a serious risk to the Great Lakes and the proposed tunnel won’t change that.
“It could take a decade for an oil tunnel to be constructed under the straits if it ever is. Meanwhile that threat remains.”
Holtz said roughly 75 people gathered to deliver the petition, which has over 14-thousand signatures.
He said the petition is to remind the Governor that Michigan residents want the pipeline decommissioned.
“We timed this because she’s delivering the state of the state and we want to make sure that she doesn’t let Enbridge devastate our state.”
A spokesperson for Enbridge said the tunnel is the best long term opportunity to secure the energy needs of the state while making an already safe pipeline even safer.