Sunken Great Lakes oil pipeline raises spill fears
Sunken Great Lakes oil pipeline raises spill fears
By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer | March 3, 2014 | Updated: March 4, 2014 2:24am
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A freshwater channel that separates Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas is a premier Midwestern tourist attraction and a photographer's delight, offering spectacular vistas of two Great Lakes, several islands and one of the world's longest suspension bridges.
But nowadays the Straits of Mackinac is drawing attention for something that is out of sight and usually out of mind, and which some consider a symbol of the dangers lurking in the nation's sprawling web of buried oil and natural gas pipelines.
Stretched across the bottom of the waterway at depths reaching 270 feet are two 20-inch pipes that carry nearly 23 million gallons of crude oil daily. They are part of the 1,900-mile Lakehead network, which originates in North Dakota near the Canadian border. A segment known as Line 5 slices through northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula before ducking beneath the Straits of Mackinac and winding up in Sarnia, Ontario.
The pipes were laid in 1953. They've never leaked, according to the system's owner, Enbridge Energy Partners LP, which says the lines are in good shape and pose no threat. But a growing chorus of activists and members of Congress is demanding closer scrutiny as stepped-up production in North Dakota's Bakken region and Canada's Alberta tar sands boosts the amount of oil coursing through pipelines crossing the nation's heartland.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Sunken-Great-Lakes-oil-pipeline-raises-spill-fears-5284155.php
= new reply since forum marked as read
underneath the worlds largest freshwater lake system is OK. Move along nothing to see here. 
It's in our best interests ....let the job creators be....what a load of crap!!! Back in oz an old Coal mine is on fire after they ripped out the sprinkler systems back in the nineties once the business was privatized...it's in mOrwell Victoria......the town is covered in smoke.....the mine manager was on abc radio getting grilled over the incident....I'd send a link but I'm a Luddite ...
