Line 5 must go

To the Journal editor:

Last December, Gov. Rick Snyder’s own Pipeline Safety Advisory Board recommended shutting down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac until safety issues were resolved.

Snyder instead has announced an agreement to keep its oil flowing for another decade while Enbridge builds a tunnel.

The Mackinac Bridge Authority is to own the tunnel for 99 years. He appointed two new MBA members to help with this decision before he leaves office.

Canadians have rejected pipelines across their own country, so Enbridge needs our shortcut to their East Coast markets. This corporate gamble with our Great Lakes is both unfair and unnecessary.

Enbridge has other pipelines around the lakes. Enbridge profits while Michigan bears the risk. A 75-year-old pipeline on life support and 99 more years of Canadian oil transport is not the way to a Pure Michigan future.

The MBA must reject tunnel ownership at its … meeting and call for proper regulatory review. We must elect state leaders in November who will decommission Line 5 to plan for Michigan’s tomorrow.

There are alternatives for Upper Peninsula propane supply and for pipelines, but not for clean water.

Barbara Stamiris

Traverse City