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Report: Mich. pipeline safety board calls for halt on Enbridge's Line 5

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Report: Mich. pipeline safety board calls for halt on Enbridge's Line 5

The Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board is calling for a temporary shutdown of the underwater segment of the Line 5 oil pipeline until Enbridge Inc. concludes its inspections and protective coating repairs, one of a number of nonbinding resolutions the board drew up for the state's consideration, The Associated Press reported.

Besides the temporary shutdown, the board approved resolutions such as completing a "more robust" study of alternatives to Line 5 and stopping the flow of oil during weather conditions producing waves of at least three feet for more than an hour, as compared to the eight feet stipulated in the safety agreement between Enbridge and the state, the Dec. 11 news report said.

Enbridge received an easement from Michigan in 1953 allowing the pipeline to cross the Great Lakes. "[The coating gaps are] a violation of the easement, and it only makes sense to shut down the pipeline until Enbridge can adequately address and fix the coating issues to ensure we don't have any type of rupture or leak," said Jennifer McKay, a member of the board.

Some board members noted that some of the 16-person board abstained from voting to approve the measures. The board's co-chairwoman, Valerie Brader, said she expected Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's administration to consider the resolutions as advisory and note the number of abstentions, according to the report.

The Line 5 twin segment runs under the Straits of Mackinac and carries oil from Superior, Wis., to Sarnia, Ontario.