To the editor:

As the weather changes, I just can’t get enough of our beautiful Lake Michigan, it’s pristine waters and gorgeous beaches. I ask myself why Congressman Jack Bergman is willing to risk our Great Lakes in the service of the oil barons he represents? 

Rep. Bergman recently wrote, “Line 5 is the lifeline of the Midwest.” Well, the Great Lakes is the lifeline of the entire country as well as the world. This is the largest body of fresh water in the world. A spill in the Straits from Line 5 will be catastrophic. It is only a matter of time. The company who owns Line 5 was responsible for the oil spill in 2010 in the Kalamazoo River costing $1.2 billion to clean up and was the largest inland oil spill in US history. While Rep. Bergman claims Line 5 is safe, it has, in fact, leaked at least 33 times since 1968. Our Coast Guard admits its ability to attempt a cleanup would at best remove 30 or 40% of a spill. Michigan would be doomed, along with the eight other states bordering the Great Lakes where 40 million people depend on that water for drinking.

Rep. Bergman also claims that tens of thousands of jobs would be lost across Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the region. However, according to the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Enbridge employs only 116 people in Michigan. Contrastingly, more than 214,000 jobs are supported in Michigan by Great Lakes tourism alone. More than 1.3 million jobs regionally depend on the Great Lakes, creating $82 billion in annual wages for Michiganders. All of which are at risk if Line 5 ruptures.

An independent study from London Economics International found that price impacts for propane from a Line 5 shut down would be negligible, at around five cents per gallon. The Upper Peninsula Energy Task force determined that three to four truckloads, or one to two train cars of propane per day, could replace the UP’s reliance on Line 5 propane. Statistics from Oil and Water Don’t Mix state that less than 20% of households in the UP heat with propane. The eastern UP already gets its propane from a source other than Line 5, as does the western UP. The processing plant in Rapid River delivers propane to only 12 thousand UP households, making up about a quarter of 1% of what runs through Line 5. Over 90% of the oil that runs through the line goes back to Canada. Other pipelines, including 6B that runs through Detroit, avoid the Great Lakes altogether, and can easily provide the needed oil for lower Michigan and the rest of the Midwest.

Ask yourself do you really want to risk our state’s drinking water, tourism, jobs, and regional economy for the sake of Rep. Bergman’s Big Oil campaign contributors? Ask Senators Peters, Stabenow, and President Biden to support Gov. Whitmer’s order to shut down Line 5 to protect the largest body of freshwater in the world.