Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
A major environmental group has formally sent notice it is threatening to sue the U.S. Department of Transportation to force it to be more aggressive in ensuring oil pipeline safety in the Great Lakes.
The decision was based largely on fears regarding the condition of the nearly 60-year old pipelines below the surface of the Straits of Mackinac, and the possibility of rupture, according Mike Shriberg of the National Wildlife Federation.
He says a 25 year old federal law requires oil and pipeline companies to draft safety plans for approval by the U.S. DOT.
Shriberg says the department has never created criteria for emergency response plans.
And if they don’t, he says they’ll go to court.
