Environmental and Government News #5 (kind of): 8/27/25

 Hello, welcome back to my blog! Instead of the usual "monthly rundown", I'd like to share a little of what I have been up to in the past few months (hopefully it's interesting enough to excuse my 2 month absence from posting). 

     About 1 month and a half ago, I learned about the Line 5 pipeline n the straits of Mackinac. I quickly became interested in the issue, especially the debates surrounding the topics. I was able to get in contact with a couple of the involved parties, including the EGLE, Enbridge, and Sierra Club. I asked each of them the following questions: 

1.) If all sides (Environmentalists, Enbridge, etc.) came to the table tomorrow with an open mind on the Line 5 issue, what would the first compromise look like to you?

2)How do you personally weigh the risk of ecological damage against the economic benefits of Line 5, and where do you draw the line between acceptable risk and irreversible harm?

EGLE (Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) responded with the following email(s):


"Thank you for reaching out with your thoughtful questions regarding the Line 5 project. At the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), we are committed to upholding state and federal laws while ensuring the protection of our natural resources.

EGLE’s role in matters related to Line 5 is to review permit applications and issue approvals if the project meets statutory expectations. Specifically, the applicable permit programs for the Enbridge Line 5 project fall under several statutes under the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended. These include Part 31 (Water Resources Protection), Part 303 (Wetlands Protection), and Part 325 (Great Lakes Submerged Lands). Our permitting process involves a detailed evaluation of potential ecological impacts and includes opportunities for public input. We issue permits if it is determined that the permitted activities do not pose an unacceptable risk to the environment as laid out in statute."

I thought this response was a very professional response, but it was still very interesting. 


Enbridge responded with the following email:

"In 2018, we reached a path forward with the State of Michigan and entered into an agreement to build the Great Lakes Tunnel Project.  Since that time, we have continued to move forward and hope to receive the necessary permits to build the project to further protect the Great Lakes.

Pipelines are the safest way to transport the massive amount of liquid and/or natural gas that we consume on a day to day basis.  Millions of people rely on the energy that Line 5 transports.  Currently Line 5 meets all federal safety standards and relocation into the Great Lakes Tunnel will only further protect against an unlikely leak."

Once again, I found this to be a very professional response. I thought it was interesting to claim that "millions of people rely on the energy that Line 5 transports," as fossil fuels have very clear alternatives. However, it is obviously not within Enbridge's intentions to use clean energy.


Sierra Club, contrary to the other two, wanted to have a small meeting to chat about the questions! It was a really nice gesture, and I want to share some of the things I learned from the meeting. 

 #1.)Not only should the line 5 project be stopped, line 5 should be discontinued as a whole. It posits a major risk to the environment that is simply not worth the economic benefits.

#2.)Line 5 does not provide as much economic and energy impact as they claim. A study (https://plgconsulting.com/executive-summary-likely-market-responses-to-a-line-5-shutdown/) shows that it would very minimally increase prices, which I thought was super fascinating.

#3.)A lot of environmentally "protective" laws were phrased/created in a way to be able to approve more infrastructure projects than to actually protect the environment, which influences the permit hearings, lawsuits, etc. I had never thought about this before, and it opened my eyes a lot to more of the politics side of this issue.

 Overall, I am very thankful for Sierra Club giving me this opportunity. I learned a lot, and I will hopefully continue to work with Sierra Club to expand my knowledge even more! I hope you found this post sort of interesting, and I encourage anyone reading this to read more into the issue. I will hopefully continue the Environmental and Government News very soon, so stay tuned :)

Environmental Fun Fact of the Day: Oil from one oil change can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water — a years’ supply for 50 people! Source: https://www.epa.gov/recycle/managing-reusing-and-recycling-used-oil

-Oscar



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