When we discuss the erasure of cultures by globalization it is typically how languages, cultural practices, etc. disappear gradually due to the intermingling of people. Line 5 presents a unique challenge because it could physically be a detriment to historic cultures and the lives of so many Americans due to industrial globalization. An oil pipeline originally put under scrutiny due to its environmental threat is additionally a threat to the history and livelihood of Indigenous Peoples and other Michigan residents. Enbridge Inc. is a Canadian energy corporation that operates Line 5 in Michigan and Wisconsin. Rather than pump petroleum (crude oil) from western Canada to eastern Canada along the southern boundary of Ontario the corporation has partnered with the aforementioned U.S. states to allow the pipeline to travel through the United States. The pipeline is above ground for much of its length but descends beneath the Straits of Mackinac (connection of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron). Here the exposed pipeline runs just atop the lakebed. This exposed nature is what initially brought a great deal of attention to Line 5 and the environmental threat it posed to the Great Lakes. A leak or spill of any kind would be disastrous to Michigan’s natural environment as well as its fishing, shipping, and tourism industries.

1. LINE 5
HOW A LOOMING
ENVIRONMENTAL
CATASTROPHE COULD
LEAD TO THE
DESTRUCTION OF A
REGION AND ONE OF
OUR GREATEST NATURAL
RESOURCES

2. LINE 5 – The Threat of Industrial
Globalization
• When we discuss the erasure of cultures by globalization it is
typically how languages, cultural practices, etc. disappear
gradually due to the intermingling of people.
• Line 5 presents a unique challenge because it could physically
be a detriment to historic cultures and the lives of so many
Americans due to industrial globalization.
• An oil pipeline originally put under scrutiny due to its
environmental threat is additionally a threat to the history and
livelihood of Indigenous Peoples and other Michigan residents.

3. LINE 5 – An Introduction
• Enbridge Inc. is a Canadian energy corporation that operates Line 5 in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Rather than pump petroleum (crude oil) from western Canada to eastern Canada along the southern
boundary of Ontario the corporation has partnered with the aforementioned U.S. states to allow the
pipeline to travel through the United States.
• The pipeline is above ground for much of its length but descends beneath the Straits of Mackinac
(connection of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron). Here the exposed pipeline runs just atop the lakebed.
This exposed nature is what initially brought a great deal of attention to Line 5 and the environmental
threat it posed to the Great Lakes. A leak or spill of any kind would be disastrous to Michigan’s natural
environment as well as its fishing, shipping, and tourism industries.

4. LINE 5 – Enbridge’s Past in
Michigan
• Enbridge does not have a great track record in Michigan, mistakes in
the past have led many Michiganders to not trust the corporation and
criticize its every move.
• Paul Leahy writes in The End of the Line: Shutting Down Enbridge
Line 5, Still a Pipedream? , “Michiganders view the Great Lakes as
central to our livelihoods, our leisure, and our way of life, as the
"Great Lakes State" imbues residents with a special sense of civic
pride and public trust. So when Canadian energy transportation
company Enbridge spilled over 800,000 gallons of Albertan tar sands
oil into the Kalamazoo River in 2010, Michiganders, vowing not to
repeat the mistakes of the past, asked whether it could happen
again.
• A similar event occurred in Crystal Falls, Michigan in 1999

5. LINE 5 – The Impact on Tribal
Nations
• The journal article The perceived risk of the Line 5 Pipeline and spills
under ice discusses the negative impacts of a potential spill on
Michigan but also examines what a spill would do to the existing
Tribal nations present in northern Michigan.
• “The Straits are also an important commercial and recreational
fishing basin for five Tribal nations (Bay Mills Indian Community,
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little River
Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa
Indians, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) and yields over
$23 million in chartered fishing trips.”
• A loss of this would be a huge economic detriment to these Tribal
nations a desecration to their ancestral fishing waters.

6. LINE 5 – Tribal Opposition
• John Minode’e Petoskey writes in Tribal Opposition to Enbridge
Line 5: Rights and Interests a complex and wholistic legal
argument against the existence of Line 5 based on treaties
signed throughout history between the United States
government and Tribal nations.
• “…the treaty rights of the Anishinaabe of Michigan are still intact
today. This case generally stands for the proposition that tribes have a
treaty right to fish in the Great Lakes, and such a treaty right is
supreme to state law. So long as Anishinaabe remain in Michigan, the
right remains extant. Therefore, the State of Michigan may not make
regulations that interfere with these rights.”

7. LINE 5 – Tribal Opposition (cont.)
• John Minode’e Petoskey explains that, “The 1981 Sixth Circuit
ruling rooted the power of the state to regulate tribal fishing in its
sovereign interest over the Great Lakes fishery. However, as set forth
in Sec. III, the language can equally support the proposition that
tribes may restrict regulate state action when such action poses a risk
of ‘irreparable harm’ to treaty fisheries and tribal sovereign rights.”
• The argument is that the State of Michigan by allowing Line 5 to
operate as is, is subject to tribal regulation because it poses
“’irreparable harm’ to treaty fisheries”.

8. LINE 5 – Timetable of an Oil Spill
• Statistical Analysis of Straits of Mackinac Line 5: Worst Case Spill Scenarios – University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor

9. LINE 5 –
Timetable of
an Oil Spill
(cont.)

10. LINE 5 – Economic Impact
• The journal article Economic damages from a worst-case oil
spill in the Straits of Mackinac states that, “Damages are
estimated for two spill scenarios occurring at the onset of the
summer tourism season with extensive shoreline oiling. Using
evidence from past spills, economic damages would last for
between one and two years and would affect locations on the
periphery of the spill area, depending on the activity. We project
the loss from the worst-case scenario would be at least $1.3
billion.”

11. LINE 5 – Additional Reading
• Tribes Worry Line 5 Tunnel Construction Could Bring Sex
Trafficking, Violence To Native Communities
https://patch.com/michigan/across-mi/tribes-worry-line-5-tunnel-
construction-could-bring-sex-trafficking-violence
• Between Oil And Water: The Issue With Enbridge’s Line 5
https://theowp.org/reports/between-oil-and-water-the-issue-with-
enbridges-line-5/
• Is This the Last of Line 5? https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2021-2-
march-april/grilled/last-line-5
• Group thinks it has found proof of 10,000-year-old, Ice Age culture in
Straits of Mackinac
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/14/straits-
mackinac-ice-age-culture-native-american-tribes/5978992002/

12. LINE 5 –
Challenges
• We see a huge threat to the
Tribal nation of northern
Michigan posed by Line 5.
These Tribal bodies are
currently battling the State of
Michigan and Enbridge Inc. to
have Line 5 shut off and
dismantled. I would like to see
any future infrastructure
installed in or around the Great
Lakes to be subject to Tribal
authorities to best protect their
history and the natural
environment.

13. LINE 5 –
Challenges
(cont.)
• Northern Michigan is dependent on its fishing
industry to a great extent. These waters have
been fished sustainably for centuries to ensure
their longevity for centuries to come. Line 5
poses great risk to this industry as well as the
tourism industry, which has become the lifeblood
of the northern Michigan economy. Steps should
be taken for further protection of these ancient
fishing grounds so that if Line 5 is removed no
similar problem could arise in the future.

14. LINE 5 –
Challenges (cont.)
• Recent underwater surveys have
produced preliminary evidence that at
the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac
there is signs of an Ice Age
civilization.
• Burying Line 5 beneath the lakebed
emerged as a potential solution in
recent years, however all the dredging
and digging would obscure this new
evidence for good.
• If this “solution” is not pursued it could
allow for further study of the bottom of
the Straits of Mackinac and protect the
legacy of an ancient civilization.

15. LINE 5 –
Strengths
• This movement to “Shut Down Line 5” has
been an enormously successful grassroots
campaign which at the most visible level
has been communicated through an
extensive sign campaign across the state.
This reaches further as lobbying efforts are
continuously underway within the state
legislative houses. Such widespread
visibility had gathered a majority of public
support within Michigan.
• These lobbying efforts must be continued to
the greatest extent post-COVID-19 when in-
person restrictions are lifted. If this barrage
continues it is bound to sway the state
government at some point, especially with
an administration more open to the end of
Line 5.

16. LINE 5 – Strengths (cont.)
• Because of the visibility within Michigan the “Shut Down Line 5”
movement has garnered significant national and international
attention from renowned political and environmental
organizations (ex. The Sierra Club). This attention makes it
broader than a Michigan issue, and it gives Michigan politicians
the sense that “the world is watching” which places significant
emphasis on doing the morally correct thing to do in this
situation.

17. LINE 5 – Strengths
(cont.)
• With the current political
climate in the United States
having great regard for
social justice and
environmental issues this is
the best time to capitalize on
that general feeling and use
it to strengthen momentum
for the “Shut Down Line 5”
movement.

18. LINE 5 –
Recommendations
• Much of the Michigan public and
government has been won over with
the idea of a future without Line 5.
Canada is more reliant on the
pipeline and the Canadian
government is adamantly opposed to
any sort of shutdown. Winning over
Canadian support is a crucial step in
shutting down Line 5.

19. LINE 5 –
Recommendations
(cont.)
• When the solution of a tunnel was
proposed it offered many people the
idea that the end was in sight and a
tunnel would be sufficient mitigation
to combat an environmental
catastrophe. However due to the
recent findings of a possible Ice Age
civilization a tunnel is not a sufficient
solution by any means. Continuing to
not settle for a tunnel is a reasonable
path forward.

20. LINE 5 –
Recommendations
(cont.)
• Research helps illustrate to the general
population how good or bad a subject is. The
sources presented in this presentation paint a
clear picture about the negative aspects of Line
5. Even if political change is stagnant currently,
further research continues to put pressure on
policy makers and sway public opinion.

21. LINE 5 – Conclusion
• To take all these recommendations into account, act, and use
all strengths then the movement could receive its final push in
the direction of the goal: to shut down Line 5.
• Enbridge has a terrible track record in Michigan, has not offered
any reasonable solutions, and public opinion is very validly
against the pipeline. All these factors contribute to a strong and
just movement.
• Further reading and self-education is essential to the
understanding of this complex issue and how you personally
feel about a desired outcome.

22. LINE 5 – Thank You
• Thank you for reading and/or listening to this presentation, I
have appreciated your time and attention.
• I kindly ask that you look at the “Additional Reading” section and
see what you can personally do to support “Shut Down Line 5”
• Thank you to The University of New Mexico Libraries and Calvin
University’s Knight Cite whose services I used to complete this
presentation.
• https://library.unm.edu/
• https://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/

23. LINE 5 – Sources
• Leahy, P. (2016). The Georgetown Environmental Law Review -The End of the Line: Shutting Down
Enbridge Line 5, Still a Pipedream? (29th ed., Vol. 1, p. 799). Washington, DC: Georgetown
Environmental Law Review. Retrieved from Hein Online Law Journal Library .
• Bessette, D., Rutty, M., Gunn, G., Tarabara, V., & Richardson, R. (2021). Journal of Great Lakes
Research - The perceived risk of the Line 5 Pipeline and spills under ice (Vol. 47, pp. 226-235).
Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Great Lakes Research.
Retrieved from Science Direct - UNM University Libraries.
• Minode’e Petoskey, J. (2020). Tribal Law Journal -Tribal Opposition to Enbridge Line 5: Rights and
Interests (Vol. 20, pp. 55-76). Albuquerque, NM: Tribal Law Journal - University of New Mexico School of
Law. Retrieved from https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/tlj/vol20/iss1/4
• Schwab Ph.D., D. J. (2016). Statistical Analysis of Straits of Mackinac Line 5: Worst Case Spill
Scenarios (pp. 1-23). Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Water Center - University of Michigan. Retrieved from
http://glenarborsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Mackinac-Line-5-Worst-Case-Spill-Scenarios.pdf
• Melstrom, R. T., Reeling, C., Gupta, L., Miller, S. R., Zhang, Y., & Lupi, F. (2019). Journal of Great Lakes
Research - Economic damages from a worst-case oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac (Vol. 45, pp. 1130-
1141). Amsterdam, Netherlands: International Association for Great Lakes Research. Published by
Elsevier B.V.. Retrieved from Science Direct - UNM University Libraries.