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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) reintroduced the Preserve Our Lakes and Keep our Environment Safe (LAKES) Act, which starts a comprehensive year-long economic and environmental study of Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and natural gas pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, and would require the pipeline’s permits be terminated if significant risks are revealed.

“The Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac poses a serious threat to the entire Great Lakes region, our environment and our economy,” said Dingell. “A University of Michigan study found that more than 700 miles of shoreline in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are potentially vulnerable to an oil spill in the Straits, jeopardizing the Great Lakes ecosystem and hundreds of thousands of jobs. A thorough study on the condition and integrity of the underwater pipes and facilities in the Straits of Mackinac is necessary. If the conditions of the pipes to be a significant risk to the environment and public health, the operations of Line 5 must be shut down.”

You can read the text of the bill here.

The Preserve Our Lakes and Keep our Environment Safe (LAKES) Act:

• Commissions a comprehensive 12-month study to determine the economic and environmental risks pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac pose to the Great Lakes,
• Commissions a supplementary evaluation of the internal and external condition and structural integrity of such pipelines, and
• Requires that the Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) terminate operations of such pipeline should the study determine its operation poses significant risk to life, property, or the environment

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