Permit for 98-year-old pipelines under St. Clair River sparks alarm

From:  MLive

by Garrett Ellison

The Marlene Green freighter leaves Lake St. Clair and heads into the St. Clair River, the border between the United States and Canada, on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008. (AP file/Duane Burleson)

 MARYSVILLE, MI — A pair of idled St. Clair River oil pipelines originally built in 1918 are generating outrage among Michigan environmental groups and attention from Congressional legislators although the pipeline owners say there are no current plans to send crude oil through them.

Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline's request to update usage permits on a group of border-crossing pipelines the company bought in 2012 touched off alarm among environmentalists after a Federal Register notice flew under everyone's radar until the public feedback window expired on Feb. 24.

The lack of environmental review by the U.S. State Department, which has jurisdiction over border-crossing pipelines, has upset groups like the Sierra Club and FLOW (Flow Love of Water), which only became aware of the pipelines last week, just as public comment on the permit was ending.  MORE