“Avoid Disaster” Urge Cross-Border Groups in Meeting with Canadian Consul
Photo by River Akemann
The risk of an oil spill in the Great Lakes is imminent. A cross-border coalition delivered a letter to the Canadian government condemning their support for the ticking time bomb known as Line 5.
DETROIT, MI — An international coalition of organizers met with an official at the Canadian Consulate, and urged them to take actions to avoid a disastrous oil spill in the Great Lakes. The delegation of representatives from the United States, Canada, and First Nations delivered a letter to Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Service Consul Steve Neves outlining the looming threat of a spill posed by the Line 5 Tar Sands Pipeline owned and operated by Enbridge, a Canadian oil company. The group then held a press conference to discuss the stakes for local communities (watch below).
The group called upon the Canadian government to retract its wrongful use of a 1977 transit treaty that enables Enbridge to continue its trespass in the Great Lakes watershed. Enbridge has faced lawsuits for their illegal operation of Line 5 on the Bad River reservation in Wisconsin, where erosion threatens to expose and rupture the pipeline. In 2021, the State Of Michigan ordered Enbridge to shut down Line 5, but Enbridge continues to defy Michigan’s order.
Enbridge is responsible for the two largest inland oil spills in U.S. history. A spill in the Great Lakes – home to 21% of the world’s surface freshwater – would destroy the local tourism industry, threaten local wildlife, and endanger public health. Numerous reports show that shutting down Line 5 would have “minimal economic impact”.
In addition to the imminent danger of an oil spill in the lakes, southeast Michigan residents die from poor air quality, caused in part by the refinement of Line 5 products in the Marathon refinery, which has just requested an expansion of their operations. And of course the tar sands oil flowing through Line 5 has already done tremendous damage to the global climate.
This meeting was organized by The Cross Border Organizing Working Group, Le Vivant Se Défend, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, Michigan Anishinaabek Caucus and The Great Lakes Water Protector Network, and is the latest development in a slow back and forth between environmentalists and officials around Enbridge tar sands pipelines.
“As people who share the land we can all take from the dish, but we have a responsibility to not take more than we need,” Joe Hill, Seneca Nation
"It’s hypocritical and irrelevant for the Canadian government to invoke the 1977 treaty while ignoring the long standing treaties they have with First Nations, ignoring the sovereignty of the Bad River Band and the 12 tribes of Michigan. We need Canada to do the right thing and stand back from this fight,” said Andrea Pierce, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians citizen, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition & Michigan Anishinaabek Caucus
“This is a textbook case of environmental racism. Indigenous people’s treaty rights are being ignored and their lifeways are in peril. And people in Detroit, the blackest city in America, have our air and water poisoned when tar sands oil is processed literally in our backyards. ” said Andrew Kaplowitz, Climate and Energy Justice Lead at Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice.
“As a Canadian living here in Detroit I’m being impacted by the toxic air that comes from the Marathon plant which refines Enbridge’s oil,” said Vanessa Serna.
The Line 5 issue comes back and impacts fenceline communities in such a way that you can't imagine. We literally have neighborhoods of cancer clusters," said Samra’a Luqman in reference to Line 5 products refined at the Marathon refinery.
“Cross-border activists are uniting to stop Enbridge from continuing to use our waterways as a sacrifice zone for the corporate greed of a Canadian oil company. It is our duty to protect the Great Lakes,” said Valerie Jean Blakely, Communications Director of The People’s Water Board Coalition
WHO: Grassroots organizers affiliated with The Cross Border Organizing Working Group, Le Vivant Se Défend, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, Michigan Anishinaabek Caucus and The Great Lakes Water Protector Network,
WHAT: Delivered a letter to the Canadian Consulate demanding they shut down Line 5, reduce the flow of oil in Line 9B, and increase transparency in reporting on oil spills.
WHEN: 12:00 pm, May 14th, 2024.
WHERE: Canadian Consulate 600 Renaissance Center, Detroit MI 48243k
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The Great Lakes Water Protector Network is a grassroots organization that focuses on Line 5 and other issues related to environmental and social justice. For more information call Andrew Kaplowitz at 313.854.0868 or email: team@glwpn.org.