Activists Tamper with Enbridge Line 5

Some environmental activists will be in hot water after tampering with an oil pipeline in Tuscola County.

The Enbridge Line Five pipeline, which runs from Superior, Wisconsin through the western U.P., down to the Straits of Mackinac, then to Port Huron back into Canada, has caused a lot of controversy in recent years as the aging infrastructure runs under the straits, which environmentalists say is a disaster waiting to happen in the Great Lakes. On Tuesday, October 19, a group of environmental activists live streamed themselves on Facebook closing a pipeline valve with a pipe wrench at a pump station near Vassar. The move cause Enbridge to shut the pipeline down out of an abundance of caution. Enbridge officials say the activists’ actions could have potentially had the opposite effect, doing damage to the environment and harm to people.

The company supports prosecution of those involved.