Damage of anchor strike to Straits of Mackinac pipeline finally revealed
A newly released video of an underwater inspection of the Line 5 oil and natural gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac shows damage to at least the outside of the pipes following a 2018 ship anchor strike.
"The Great Lakes barely dodged a bullet," said Mike Shriberg, Great Lakes regional executive director of the environmental nonprofit National Wildlife Federation.
The April 1, 2018, anchor strike damaged Line 5 and nearby electric cables along the lake bottom where the Great Lakes Michigan and Huron connect. A tugboat called the Clyde S. Vanenkevort was named by then-state Attorney General Bill Schuette as responsible.
Nearby, high-voltage power cables along the lake bottom, owned by American Transmission Company, also were damaged by the anchor strike, leaking an estimated 600 gallons of dielectric fluid into the water.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/05/15/mackinac-enbridge-oil-pipeline-anchor-damage/3679013002/
(Detroit Free Press)