Capac mystery explained
According to Enbridge’s Jason Manshum, the activity in Capac is preparation for integrity work on Line 5. Maria Brown has the details at the Tri-City Times.
Sneak preview and two entreaties
After a few days taking care of other business, we’ve been playing a little catch-up on the blog today. But we haven’t caught up enough; there’s more we’re trying to get to. Such as:
- the latest news on the federal suit filed by POLAR–and some of it is good!
- a little construction update: the dozers are coming our way!
- and our state Rep. Brad Jacobsen has promised us a letter; we can hardly wait!
Now two quick appeals:
- Our friends at POLAR are hoping to have members from every county and township along the route. Please consider joining. There is no obligation; you don’t have to donate to join. But if you are concerned about the way Enbridge conducts business and you support efforts to ensure that they respect state and local laws and citizen concerns, then you should consider becoming a member. You can join here: http://polarldf.com
- This one’s a little shameless and we’ve been avoiding asking. But: this humble blog is nearing 10,000 total views– not bad in just a few months, but certainly nothing compared, say, to your average Justin Bieber tweet. And anyway, we’re not in it for the glory; mainly we just want to keep our fellow landowners informed. However, the more light that gets shed on Enbridge, the more public pressure we can exert, the better for everyone involved or interested (and that should include every Michigander). Perhaps we can even rouse some elected officials out of their deep slumber. So we’re asking: if you’re a regular reader of the blog or just an occasional one, please help us build our audience. Become a subscriber (at the top right of your window). Share our posts with your friends and acquaintances and neighbors by email or on Facebook (especially Facebook!). “Like” them, “Tweet” them, Google + them or otherwise help disseminate them in whatever way you can think of. Thank you in advance!
If you want to understand Enbridge, look to the top
In a post this morning we linked to another fine report by David Hasemyer at Inside Climate News. The crack team of journalists over there has been doing terrific– and invaluable– work on Enbridge and related matters for months. At the end of our post, we repeated something we’ve said often here and that we’ve heard plenty of others say as well: it didn’t have to be this way. Had Enbridge treated landowners fairly and respectfully, truthfully and consistently, with honesty and dignity they would not be facing the sort of opposition they’re facing now, a level of citizen resistance that Carl Weimer, Executive Director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, calls “extraordinary.” Speaking personally, had Enbridge dealt honestly, fairly, and respectfully with us, there would be no Line 6B Citizens’ Blog nor any of the activity that has gone along with it. If, in fact, we’ve become “activists,” we are activists of Enbridge’s own making.
All of which raises a question that continually gnaws at us: why? Why does Enbridge repeatedly act in ways that alienate stakeholders? Why behave so antagonistically? So disingenuously? So litigiously? Why try to cut corners and try to get away with things? After all, everybody knows that Enbridge is ultimately going to get their replacement pipeline; that’s never been in question. But why not just do it right and save everybody the grief, the aggravation, and (in Ken Weathers’ phrase) “the personal anxiety they have been causing people”? (more…)
EPA to Enbridge: you’re not done yet
A staffer from Michigan state Senator David Robertson’s office once tried to dismiss my concerns about Enbridge by insisting that the Kalamazoo River was cleaner now than it was before the spill. We’ve heard the same thing from others. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, thinks that Enbridge still has cleanup work to do: this just in.
Press for landowner court victories
This morning, more outstanding reporting by David Hasemyer at Inside Climate News. More than anything else we’ve read, this one accurately gets to the heart of citizen resistance to Line 6B. Here, for example, is Kim Savage, who has always gotten it. She
said people understand the need for a new pipeline but object to the unsympathetic way Enbridge has gone about dealing with them and the evasive answers the company has given to questions.
“Enbridge simply needs to be more honest and forthcoming.”
And here is landowner Ken Weathers:
“I sure hope now Enbridge has a better understanding of the personal anxiety they have been causing people,” Weathers said. “It’s the principle of the thing.”
And Debbie Hense
wishes Enbridge would be more respectful of not only the trees she loves but of every landowner who faces the uninvited demolition and construction.
As we’ve said before and as we’ve tried to explain to Enbridge, it didn’t have to be this way. Had Enbridge treated landowners fairly and with respect from the beginning– as they claim to do– they wouldn’t be facing what Carl Weimer calls this “extraordinary” resistance. We wonder whether they’re listening now.