Did you know there is a massive 60-year-old oil pipeline running under Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, along the Straits of Mackinac? Did you know that up to 20 million gallons of oil travels through that pipeline a day and the operators have plans to expand the capacity without making significant updates? You might also be surprised to learn that most of the oil traveling through our pipelines comes from the Alberta tar sands. This panel will explain the issues and the regulatory framework governing oil pipelines as well as provide recommendations on ways we can safeguard our lakes from spills.

1. Sunken Hazard
Aging pipeline threatens Great Lakes

2. Enbridge
Energy’s
Pipeline
Network

3. Lakehead System: 84 spills since 2002

4. 1990, Brevort, MI:
Small spill, oil
plume reached
Lake Michigan

5. 1990, Brevort, MI:
1999, Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
gallons spilled
Michigan

6. 2002, Itasca
1990, Brevort, MI:
County, MN: 252,000 1999, Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
gallon crude oil Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
spill, $5.6 million gallons spilled
Michigan
damage.

7. 2002: Itasca
1990, Brevort, MI:
County, MN: 252,000 1999: Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
gallon crude oil Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
spill, $5.6 million gallons spilled
Michigan
damage.
2003: Bay
County, MI: 21,000
gallon crude oil spill

8. 2002, Itasca
1990, Brevort, MI:
County, MN: 252,000 1999, Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
gallon crude oil Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
spill, $5.6 million gallons spilled
Michigan
damage.
2007, Exeland, WI:
2003, Bay
201,000 gallon
County, MI: 21,000
spill, $4.5 million
gallon crude oil spill
damages

9. 2002, Itasca
1990, Brevort, MI:
County, MN: 252,000 1999, Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
gallon crude oil Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
spill, $5.6 million gallons spilled
Michigan
damage.
2007, Exeland, WI:
2003, Bay
201,000 gallon
County, MI: 21,000
spill, $4.5 million
gallon crude oil spill
damages
2007, Clearbrook, M
N: Pipeline rupture
kills two workers

10. 2002, Itasca
1990, Brevort, MI:
County, MN: 252,000 1999, Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
gallon crude oil Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
spill, $5.6 million gallons spilled
Michigan
damage.
2007, Exeland, WI:
2003, Bay
201,000 gallon
County, MI: 21,000
spill, $4.5 million
gallon crude oil spill
damages
2007, Clearbrook, M
N: Pipeline rupture
kills two workers
July 2010, Marshall, MI:
Ruptured pipeline spills 1.2
million gallons of Tar Sands
oil into Kalamazoo River

11. 2002, Itasca
1990, Brevort, MI:
County, MN: 252,000 1999, Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
gallon crude oil Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
spill, $5.6 million gallons spilled
Michigan
damage.
2007, Exeland, WI:
2003, Bay
201,000 gallon
County, MI: 21,000
spill, $4.5 million
gallon crude oil spill
damages
2007, Clearbrook, M
N: Pipeline rupture
kills two workers
July 2010, Marshall, MI:
Ruptured pipeline spills 1.2
2010, Chicago: 250,000 million gallons of Tar Sands
gallon oil spill oil into Kalamazoo River

12. 2002, Itasca
1990, Brevort, MI:
County, MN: 252,000 1999, Crystal
Small spill, oil plume
gallon crude oil Falls, MI: 226,000
reached Lake
spill, $5.6 million gallons spilled
Michigan
damage.
2007, Exeland, WI:
2003, Bay
201,000 gallon
County, MI: 21,000
spill, $4.5 million
gallon crude oil spill
damages
July 2010, Marshall, MI:
2007, Clearbrook, M Ruptured pipeline spills 1.2
N: Pipeline rupture million gallons of Tar Sands
kills two workers oil into Kalamazoo River
2012, near Madison, WI: 2010, Chicago: 250,000
42,000 gallon oil spill gallon oil spill

13. Sunken hazard
Line 5 pipeline carries 20 mgd of crude
oil and natural gas liquids daily;
expansion would increase that to 22 mgd

17. Looks are deceiving
• Currents in
the Straits
often exceed
3 feet/second
(2 mph)
• Flow volume
50x greater
than average
flow of the
St. Clair River

19. Three hours after a spill

20. Six hours after a spill

21. Twelve hours after a spill

22. Twenty four hours after a spill