ST. IGNACE, MI-- Enbridge and several other agencies are conducting a functional oil spill response exercise in the Straits of Mackinac Thursday.
More than 300 people are expected to participate in the event, which will simulate an oil spill from the pipeline that carries light crude through the Straits. Officials say they want to test emergency response efforts, equipment, processes and procedures, as well as the coordination and integration of the agencies involved.
Enbridge will work with the U.S. Coast Guard, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and several local emergency management agencies.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow introduced a bill Wednesday designed to protect the Great Lakes from oil spills.
It would ban the shipment of crude oil in vessels on the Lakes; require a comprehensive review of hazardous pipelines in the region; improve oil spill response plans and require ice cover to be part of a worst-case scenario; increase public information about pipelines; and require the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to consider new safety criteria for identifying areas at high risk for a pipeline spill.
Enbridge’s Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac is more than 60 years old.
