A Tense Energy
Energy production in and around the Great Lakes is a subject of great controversy, one that has made the news and grabbed people's attention around the nation. For centuries, Michiganders have explored various avenues for creating energy to power their homes and industry. Hydroelectricity, oil, wind power, and natural gas have been at the forefront of these endeavours. In a climate-aware society, renewable energy accounts for about 11% of Michigan's electrical output—with wind accounting for 60% of that. Michigan also has more than 50 conventional hydroelectric dams that accounted for almost 2% of the state's net generation in 2020. According to the U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Michigan ranks as one of the top ten states for energy consumption.
Michigan’s state motto reads: “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you.” In the Lower Peninsula, that motto might well read: “If you seek an abundance of oil and gas, look beneath you.” Michigan has an abundance of oil and natural gas located under its landscape. For over 100 years, Michiganders have been involved in the task of harnessing natural resources and bringing them to market. For example:
1. Since 1925, more than 50,000 oil or natural gas wells have been drilled in Michigan.
2. Wells in 64 Michigan counties have cumulatively pumped 1.248 billion barrels of oil and 6.591 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
3. Michigan’s geology provides the largest natural gas storage capacity of any state, with 47% of the U.S population and more than half of the nation’s manufacturing capacity within a 500-mile radius of Detroit.
In 1851, when Henry and Charles Tripp came to the area in Ontario roughly sixty miles northeast of Detroit, they had heard of the region’s “gum beds.” Although the Tripps could not know it, the gum beds were part of the Michigan Basin, where the Dundee formation outcrops in what is today Oil Springs, Ontario. If Michigan could borrow twenty miles of Canada, it could lay claim to being the cradle of the worldwide oil industry. The Tripps originally hoped to make a fortune out of what others considered useless by waterproofing ship hulls with the oily goo. The Tripp brothers, however, were inquisitive and began to experiment with what other uses the goo might have. After a year or so, they applied for a manufacturing charter to make something very different, which they called “auphill.” The Tripp’s distilled the plastic-like gunk they gathered and dug from the ground (incidentally recovering fluids to be used for lighting) into a paving product. Their newly formed International Mining and Manufacturing Company received Honorable Mention at the 1855 Universal Exhibition in Paris for their product: asphalt. Theirs was the first commercial use for petroleum. Suddenly, the worthless gum beds had great value.
However, not all discoveries of oil were met with joy. In the 1960s, oil companies were convinced untapped and significant pools of natural gas and oil were to be discovered in Michigan. Shell announced one such discovery in July of 1970. However, this discovery would lead to a battle over drilling that would last over a decade. The Pigeon River Country State Forest—which was home to the only substantial wild elk herd east of the Mississippi River—was the scene of one of these long, controversial environmental battles. The Pigeon River that runs through the area is part of the Lake Huron watershed northeast of Gaylord. As an outstanding trout stream, many anglers return annually to this spot, and the region enjoyed recreational activities for some years before being the center of an energy controversy. Fifty years earlier, State Department Conservationist P.S. Lovejoy sought to make the area a "wilderness tract" since it had survived the logging era. Lovejoy's efforts brought in the wild elk from the Rocky Mountains released them in the era to reinvigorate the species. Like Lovejoy, Ford Kellum, DNR wildlife biologist, considered July, 1970 to be the darkest of days; Kellum was inalterably opposed to drilling in the Pigeon River area—a roughly 500 square mile area in the northeast corner of the Lower Peninsula.
The 1970 Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA), however, gave any person or organization the right to protect natural resources and sue those who sought to exploit them. In a fuel shortage, which was causing prices to sky rocket and lines to form at gas stations, oil companies were anxious to drill into the 91,000-acre forest for gas and oil. Kellum found support from newspapers, audubon clubs, and hunting associations. In an effort to protect the landscape and the restablished elk herd, Kellum quit his DNR post and instead focused on the Pine River Country Association (PRCA), which proposed to keep a 125 square mile tract of land free from any sort of development or industrialization. State representatives, the PRCA, the DNR, the Supreme Court, conservationists, and many others haggled over the language and the rules surrounding drilling. In 1975, the new director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) Tom Washington took a new approach: "[i]f we can't stop them," Washington said, "we should seek the most palatable plan and get all the concessions we can." In quiet negotiations with Frank Mortl—executive director of Michigan Oil And Gas Association (MOGA), the two came up with an innovative solution that balanced both environmentalism and development.
The MOGA and MUCC agreed on limited drilling on lease and royalties which in turn would be used to buy land for sporting associations, including hunting. Washington drew criticism from all angles over this stance. In 1976, Governor William Miliken expanded the solution and placed all of the revenues that were yielded by the state efforts into "Heritage Trust Funds." Public Act 204 created the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund that earmarked state revenue from the oil and gas industry for the improvement and safety of environmentally sensitive lands or for outdoor recreational facilities. A landmark Michigan Supreme Court case (West Michigan Environmental Action Council, Inc. v. Natural Resources Commission) in 1979 seemed to resolve the contention. The decision created an extraordinary agreement between all parties, allowing for tightly controlled and regulated drilling only in the southern-third of the forest under an advisory group.
Since 1998, Enbridge has become the largest transporter of crude oil. Their active pipeline system stretches 17,127 miles throughout the U.S. and Canada. Enbridge's pipelines also transport 20% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. and have declared net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. Enbridge has not been without controversy, one of the most prominent being the Kalamazoo Spill in 2010. Such disasters have drawn Enbridge fire from both state and public institutions. The Enbridge Line 5 controversy is the latest pipeline crisis to emerge in the Great Lakes basin. The clash over Calgary-based Enbridge’s Line 5, which carries up to 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids across Michigan and under the Great Lakes each day, is placing stress on U.S.-Canada ties—and raising questions about how the close allies, which have expressed a desire to work together to fight climate change, can balance energy security with the transition to a clean-energy economy.
Line 5, built in 1953, is part of Enbridge’s mainline system, which carries fuel from Alberta’s oil sands to the Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Running from Superior, WI, to Sarnia, Ontario, it is a key conduit for refineries in those regions, which make gas, propane and home-heating oils, as well as jet fuels for airports in Toronto and Detroit. For 4.5 miles under Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac, the waterway where Lake Huron meets Lake Michigan, Line 5 splits into dual pipelines. Governor Whitmer announced last fall that she was revoking the 1953 easement that allows the lines to cross the Straits, citing the “unreasonable risk” that they pose to the Great Lakes and what she said were Enbridge’s “persistent” breaches of the easement’s terms. Environmental groups, more than a dozen state attorneys general, and several Tribal communties filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the state’s argument that the matter should be decided by a Michigan state court. “The Straits of Mackinac are a sacred wellspring of life and culture for Tribal Amici and other Indian Tribes in Michigan,” the tribes wrote in their brief. “An oil spill into those waters would be culturally, economically, spiritually and historically devastating.”
Oil & Water Don't Mix (OWDM) have argued that these pipelines traverse one of the most ecologically senstive areas in the world. The Great Lakes house 20% of earth's freshwater, and the Straits, in particular, house thriving fisheries, anchor a burgeoning tourism industry, contain historical Mackinac Island, and provide drinking waters for thousands. An oil spill in this area would be catastophic and almost impossible to contain due to the currents and weather changes. Additionally, the Bay Mills Anishinaabe peoples have argued that the pipeline violates an 1836 land treaty with the U.S. and have subsequently banned Enbridge from their reservation. In a statement regarding the pipeline, President Whitney Gravelle said: “It’s more than just our food and water that’s at stake. It’s our connectedness to the natural world, our cultural identity, and deep sense of community that this landscape keeps alive. This is not just a tribal fight; we are fighting on behalf of all who value the Great Lakes and our environment...."
