NEWS

'Pinhole leak' in U.P. gas pipeline raises Straits fears

Keith Matheny
Michigan.com
The Mackinac Bridge at night from St. Ignace Monday 10/13/2014.

A "pinhole leak" in a controversial petroleum pipeline running through the Upper Peninsula released an undetermined amount of natural gas liquid that dispersed into the atmosphere north of Manistique, near the Indian River, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced today.

A spokesman for Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge, which operates the Line 5 pipeline, however, said it not a leak, but a "pinhole-sized defect, observed in the weld of the pipe," during a planned investigation of the pipeline Dec. 8.

Leak or defect, the incident heightened concerns among some people about a 61-year-old stretch of the pipeline that runs underwater through the Straits of Mackinac, and what a spill there could do to the Great Lakes. Enbridge transports light crude oil, light synthetic crude, and natural gas liquids through the line.

"This small leak is a wake-up call," said David Holtz, chair of the Michigan Chapter of the nonprofit Sierra Club. State and federal agencies should publicly disclose the full extent of potential environmental threats from the pipeline, he added, and open a public debate "about whether the threat to our state's waters and land are too great a risk to take."

Site of leak on Enbridge pipeline

Enbridge spokesman Jason Manshum said the weld defect "created a small, dime-sized stain on the pipe," and that there was "no impact from the release to the air or the soil." Regulators were notified when the planned pipeline repair met reporting criteria, he said.

"Our maintenance program detected even this minor irregularity, indicating the ability of our program to maintain Line 5 pipeline integrity," he said. "This is a clear example of how we are working to identify and repair anomalies before there is any impact to the environment or those who live and work along our pipelines."

The Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task Force, a joint review of the state's pipeline infrastructure and its safety being conducted by Schuette and state Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant, was briefed Monday on the incident near Manistique.

"We want to assure the public that the task force and DEQ will keep a close watch on the status of this incident to ensure the leak has been properly repaired and any environmental impacts have been reviewed," Schuette and Wyant said in a joint statement.

"This incident underscores the importance of the task force as it continues an exhaustive review of the safety of petroleum pipe lines in Michigan, and to implement every possible safety precaution to protect the ecology and the economy of the Great Lakes."

It was an Enbridge oil transmission line that burst near Marshall in July 2010, causing the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history, decimating Talmadge Creek and polluting about a 35-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River. The $1 billion-plus cleanup took more than four years, and some area residents still question its completeness.

Gilbert Baker, supervisor of Schoolcraft County's Hiawatha Township, where the Line 5 pinhole leak occurred, said he was not informed about the incident — and he's not happy about it.

"It's very easy to make a phone call and let us know," he said, adding he also questions the company's assurances that public health and the environment were not impacted.

"If they don't know how much leaked, how do they know?" he said.

Line 5 should be rerouted away from the Great Lakes, National Wildlife Federation vice president for conservation action Andy Buchsbaum said.

The Dec. 8 leak discovery "demonstrates that eventually, all pipelines leak – the question is when and how much," he said. "Knowing that sooner or later Line 5 will leak again, it's simply unacceptable for a portion of that pipeline to be lying on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac."

Keith Matheny writes for the Detroit Free Press