Alert by the Blue Community Water Watchers: Today is North American Oil Spill Day and the 14th anniversary of Enbridge’s oil pipeline spill in the Great Lakes Watershed. Today, we raise our voices to say, “Never again!” as we continue the fight to stop Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline from making another North American oil spill.
Here are a few ways you can take action today on North American Oil Spill Day:
Action 1: Use Your Platform
In solidarity with many who are calling to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5, we are asking you to use your platform to shine a light on the major risks of Line 5 and why we must shut it down.
- Take a photo or video of yourself with a homemade sign calling to shut down line 5.
Here are some ideas:- “Remember Kalamazoo – 3 million litres on tribal lands”
- “Enbridge spills: over 4.5 million litres Line 5”
- “No oil in the Great Lakes – oil and water don’t mix”
- “Save Our Drinking Water”
- “Water is Life”
- “Just Energy Transition NOW”
- Or print this one from Isaac Murdock
Share your action on social media and tag @wellingtonwaterwatchers and include the Tags #NAOilSpillDay #rememberKalamazoospill2010 so we can share your posts.
Action 2: Use Your Dollars
Donate here and a generous donor will match it! Donate towards our “Shut Down Line 5” campaign here before the end of the day and it will be matched thanks to a generous sponsor. Chip in here.
Action 3: Use your Voice
Enbridge has been trespassing on Anishinaabe territories in the Bad River Band reservation with their Line 5 oil pipeline for 11 years. Given the risks that were becoming evident, the Band did not renew Enbridge’s easements to operate Line 5 when they expired in 2013. Additionally, the tribal council voted in 2017 to not renew the agreement, citing threats to the nation’s natural resources. It was the start of a legal battle that persists to this day – all the while with Line 5 continuing to pump oil. In 2022, a federal district court found that the energy company had been knowingly trespassing on the tribal land since 2013 and ordered Enbridge to cease operating Line 5 entirely on tribal lands by 2026 and pay $5.1 million. Both sides are appealing – Bad River wants a shutdown within 6 months because of the imminent threat and Enbridge – well they want to keep it going! The appeals court will likely issue a ruling by the fall of 2024. To learn more, read more here.
In May of 2024, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft of the Environmental Assessment of Line 5 project and announced the public comment period, ending August 4th. This is the time to stand up against the expansion of the pipeline and tell the Army Corps, as well as the U.S. government, how you feel about the pipeline expansion!
Enbridge has spread misinformation that says Canadians don’t care about this pipeline. So let’s show them otherwise. Any feedback that there are Canadians who are against Line 5 is supportive of shutting it down!
Thank you for taking action to protect the Great Lakes from the dangerous Line 5 Pipeline!
Water Watchers
Picture: Arlene Slocombe, ED of Water Watchers visiting Wasaga Beach, the traditional territory of the Anishnaabe people of the Three Fires Confederacy. Georgian Bay and Lake Huron shorelines would be directly impacted by a rupture in Enbridge’s Line 5 through the heart of the Great Lakes.
