Feds: Enbridge can stop some internal pipeline crack inspections on Line 5 for next 15 years
Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge would no longer have to conduct internal inspections of certain kinds of cracks in its nearly 70-year-old, twin underwater oil and natural gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac, under a proposal by the U.S. Justice Department.
The Justice Department announced the proposed modified consent decree with Enbridge on Tuesday. Under the proposal, previous requirements that Enbridge conduct inline inspections — pipeline inspections using specialized equipment moving through the interior of the pipes, looking for signs of cracks or other faults — would be lifted over the next 15 years.
That concerns some environmental groups, who fear the aging pipelines — and their continued operation in defiance of an order by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that they be shut down last year — pose a huge risk to the Great Lakes and the communities and economies built around them.
"We 100% need additional scrutiny on both Enbridge's culture and operations, as well as on the integrity of these pipelines," said Beth Wallace, Great Lakes freshwater campaigns manager for the nonprofit National Wildlife Federation.
"It’s alarming to see the level of scrutiny being scaled back on any level."
2010 spills spurred consent decree
Enbridge signed a consent decree in 2017 with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve claims from a massive oil spill in Marshall, Michigan, and another pipeline leak in Illinois, both in 2010. More than 1.1 million gallons of oil spilled from a rupture in Enbridge's 30-inch transmission pipeline near Marshall beginning July 25, 2010. The spill devastated Talmadge Creek and surrounding wetlands and fouled about 38 miles of the Kalamazoo River, prompting a four-year, more than $1 billion cleanup.
Enbridge paid $177 million, including $62 million in civil penalties, and pledged to improve pipeline safety under that agreement. Enbridge was fined another $6.7 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2020, after regulators contended the company was violating the consent decree by neglecting to properly evaluate, repair or mitigate thousands of small dents showing indications of metal loss and cracking in its Lakehead Pipeline System that runs through both of Michigan's peninsulas and includes Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.
Built in 1953, Enbridge's Line 5 moves 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids per day east through the Upper Peninsula, splitting into twin underwater pipelines through the Straits, before returning to a single transmission pipeline through the Lower Peninsula that runs south to Sarnia, Ontario. Many have expressed concern about the aging pipes over several years, noting that a pipeline disaster in the Straits such as the one that occurred in Marshall would devastate the Great Lakes, shoreline and island communities, and the state economy. Enbridge officials have steadfastly maintained the pipes are safe.
Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy called axial crack inspections "a low-risk threat that was appropriately addressed in a 2017 hydrotest."
"Enbridge continues to run inline inspections regularly as part of our maintenance and inspections to ensure safe operations. We run inline inspections several times a year on the Straits section of Line 5, and that is not going to change. Our focus is always on safety and protecting the environment, the water of the Great Lakes and the people who use them."
The proposed consent decree also states that "Enbridge reserves the right to contend that it is not subject to any requirement to assess axially-aligned crack features on the Dual Pipelines following expiration of" the 15-year period in which inline inspections would no longer be required.
More:Blue waters of Michigan's Great Lakes are uncommon — and could change as climate warms
More:Michigan Appeals Court throws out cleanup order for dioxane plume under Ann Arbor
Inspections would turn up cracks deemed not significant
Whitmer in 2020 revoked Enbridge's easement with the state to use Great Lakes bottomlands for Line 5, effective in May 2021, citing safety risks and repeated violations of the easement's requirements by Enbridge. But the company has continued operating the lines in defiance of the governor's order, arguing that regulation of interstate and international pipelines is a federal matter. That case remains ongoing in U.S. District Court.
In proposing to allow Enbridge out of inline inspections of the Straits pipelines, the Justice Department cited the results of hydrostatic testing Enbridge conducted on the pipelines in 2017 — running water through the lines at much higher pressures than those at which they typically operate to move oil and natural gas liquids — from which a contracted, third-party engineer found the degree of potential axial cracking on the pipelines would allow them at least another 40 years of safe operation capability. Axial cracks are those along the length of a pipe, as opposed to circumferential cracks around a pipeline.
The proposed consent decree notes that inline inspections of the twin pipelines would likely find cracks that would require a reaction.
"Given the thickness of the seamless pipe used in the Dual Pipelines (about .812 inches thick), the Parties recognize that currently available (inline inspection) tools used to evaluate axially-aligned crack features could result in identifying crack features as Features Requiring Excavation even though such features would not pose a risk to the integrity of the dual pipelines," the proposed consent agreement states.
The decree goes on to state that if cracks were discovered through inspection, any requirement to reduce operating pressure on the dual pipelines in response "could impair operation of Line 5, even though there is reason to conclude that no axially-aligned crack feature potentially present on the Dual Pipelines will pose any threat to pipeline integrity for decades after the 2017 hydrostatic pressure tests."
The proposed consent decree states that "Enbridge shall not be required to inspect either of the Dual Pipelines ... using an (inline inspection) tool" for a period of half of the pipeline's estimated "remaining fatigue life" for the worst potential axial crack location discovered. Because half of the estimated fatigue life was just over 20 years as determined in 2017, the remaining time period is about 15 years.
More:As climate change alters Michigan forests, some work to see if and how the woods can adapt
More:Blue waters of Michigan's Great Lakes are uncommon — and could change as climate warms
Enbridge has proposed a more than $500 million tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, beneath the Great Lakes bottomlands, through which to run a new oil and gas pipeline to replace Line 5. Critics argue such a plan could pose unforeseen environmental risks, would tie Michigan to about a century more of fossil fuel transmission at a time when the culture is shifting to cleaner energy alternatives, and that Enbridge has existing pipeline capacity to move its products without any potential threat to the Great Lakes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun an environmental impact study of the proposal, which could take years.
The Justice Department is accepting public comments on the proposed consent decree until Nov. 17. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and should refer to "United States v. Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership, et al, D.J. Ref. No. 90-5-1-1-10099." Comments can be submitted by email to pubcomment-ees.enrd@usdoj.gov, or by mail to: Assistant Attorney General, U.S. DOJ-ENRD, P.O. Box 7611, Washington, DC 20044.
Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Feds: Enbridge can stop some Straits pipeline crack inspections
