Enbridge waiting until 2020 to retrieve drill debris from Straits

Enbridge Energy won’t be able to recover drill debris left on the Straits of Mackinac lakebed until 2020, despite knowing of its existence since September.

A 40-foot-long piece of drill rod is lodged in the lakebed and another 45-foot-long piece of drill rod lay collapsed on top of the lake bed 245 feet below the water surface after a Sept. 12 bore hole collapse.

Enbridge plans to remove the 45-foot section in the spring when the weather allows, but there is no way to retrieve the buried 40-foot section, Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy said. The two segments were one piece until the borehole collapsed, trapping the rod in place and forcing crews to break the segment in two.

Enbridge did not notify the state until two months after the incident on Nov. 19. Two days later, in an interview with The Detroit News, Enbridge’s project manager said the bore holes were filled in the Straits lake bed upon completion of geotechnical work.  

“We were hoping to retrieve it, and we were still hoping it might be possible up until a couple weeks ago,” said Ryan Duffy, a spokesman for Enbridge. A final decision on when to retrieve the rods, which pose no safety risks, was only made last week, he said.

The delay in reporting the incident prompted frustration from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, which was notified Nov. 19 by telephone. 

"We need our regulated industries to self-report in many instances, and this is one of those instances," said Joe Haas, district supervisor for EGLE's water resources division in the Cadillac and Gaylord field offices. 

"If they had told us this in September, they would have had enough warm water season to get down and remove it," he said.

The issue, first reported by the Petoskey News Review, was noted in a Dec. 3 letter from EGLE to Enbridge informing the Canadian oil company that the pipe debris violated its permit for the Straits.

“EGLE requires the removal of debris from the Great Lakes bottom lands as soon as work can reasonably be accomplished safely and with minimal environmental/aquatic resource impacts,” the letter said.

Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is suing to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline through the Straits, is ready to assist EGLE if needed, Nessel's spokeswoman Kelly Rossman-McKinney said. 

Enbridge's decision to wait two months to report the incident to the state is further proof of Enrbidge's "complete lack of transparency and untrustworthiness," Rossman-McKinney said. 

"And because it waited so long to disclose the accident, the company now says the weather is too bad to retrieve the broken pipe," Rossman-McKinney said. "Is this the company people want drilling a tunnel beneath the Straits while it continues to operate a 66-year-old pipeline?"

Enbridge had been boring holes in the lake bed throughout the summer as part of a geotechnical analysis for the construction of a tunnel that would house the company’s controversial Line 5 oil pipeline through the Straits.

After the collapse happened, Enrbidge sent a remote underwater vehicle to inspect the site and map the coordinates. The company did not retrieve the debris in the two months between the collapse and finishing work in the Straits Nov 17, though officials had hoped to do so before winter weather set in, Duffy said.

There are no safety or environmental risks, he said.

“Whether we got it then or get it in the spring, there’s no safety issue there,” Duffy said.

In its letter, the state said it plans to require the retrieval of the debris by the expiration of its geotechnical permit on Jan. 22, 2024. But that timeline could change after a review of Enbridge’s proposal for retrieval.

Enbridge submitted its retrieval plan Nov. 26, and EGLE has 30 days to respond.

Enbridge extracted samples from 27 holes drilled on shore, in shallow and at the deepest segments of the Straits during its geotechnical work. It capped the company’s $40 million investment in 2019 in the tunnel despite the state’s lawsuit seeking to stop it.

Nessel has asked an Ingham County Circuit Court judge to shut down Line 5 on the argument that the pipeline constitutes a public nuisance and environmental risk. 

The 66-year-old pipeline has been a source of concern from environmentalists who fear the effects of a potential oil spill in the Great Lakes. 

Enbridge entered into agreements with Michigan last year that would require the company to pay up to $500 million to build a tunnel below the Straits of Mackinac lake bed to house Line 5.

The agreements made under Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder were challenged by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Nessel, both Democrats who opined the agreements were unconstitutional.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com