TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian oil transport company Enbridge Inc. have reached an agreement they say will boost the safety of twin pipelines beneath the waterway where Lakes Huron and Michigan converge.
The deal announced Monday includes a requirement that Line 5 be shut down temporarily during storms that cause high waves in the Straits of Mackinac for an hour or longer.
It also requires a study of long-term safety options, including placing the existing pipelines or a new one in a tunnel beneath the straits, instead of leaving them on the lakebed.
It also calls for steps to allow faster detection of and quicker response to a potential spill.
State officials have raised increasing concerns about the safety of the pipelines, which were laid in 1953.
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