Crumbling Line 5 Pipelines Finally Being Shut Down

Food & Water Watch has been fighting with our allies in the Oil & Water Don’t Mix campaign to halt the reckless use of Line 5 for two long years. These twin pipelines are old and corroding and likely to leak or spill. A spill could threaten the Great Lakes -- the largest source of surface freshwater in the world. As long as the decaying, outdated pipelines are in use and actively transporting oil and gas beneath the Straits of Mackinac, millions of people and the health of the Great Lakes are at risk.  

Attorney General Bill Schuette's call for a decommission is an incredible victory for safe drinking water, grassroots organizing and plain logic. 

We’re thrilled that there is now public acknowledgement that Line 5 is too dangerous to be in operation, but we say: the process to decommission needs to be immediate and definite.  Now that the severe risks of Enbridge’s parallel pipelines are universally agreed upon, it is unacceptable to continue using them to transport oil and gas.

As Washington is moving backward, Michigan has the chance to lead the pack in the urgent quest to get #OffFossilFuels.  If Schuette and the Michigan legislature are truly listening to the science, the facts, and the will of Michigan residents, they will decommission Line 5 now and instead focus on utilizing clean, renewable energy. Transporting oil and gas beneath the Straits of Mackinac, whether via outdated pipelines or a newly constructed tunnel, is a step backwards.

The future is with 100% clean, renewable energy. We call on Schuette to follow the will of the people, drop any plans to continue transporting and supporting oil and gas infrastructure, and instead join the clean energy revolution.

You can help us to win more local fights like this on our campaign to get our nation off fossil fuels and onto 100% clean, renewable energy as soon as possible.