Scientist Models How An Oil Spill At Straits Of Mackinac Would Affect Great Lakes

Simulation Of Spill Shows Oil Would Travel Hundreds Of Miles In Matter Of Days

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Above, a frame from scientist David Schwab's animation of an oil spill from the Straits of Mackinac. 

A University of Michigan research scientist has created a computer animation of what a major oil spill at the Straits of Mackinac would do to Lakes Michigan and Huron.

The Enbridge Corporation’s Line 5 pipeline carries oil from Superior east under the Straits of Mackinac — where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet — and on into Canada. Environmental and fishing groups have been pushing Enbridge to improve or replace the line because of concerns over what a leak would do to the Great Lakes.

During a conference call set up by the National Wildlife Federation, scientist David Schwab said the water flow in the straits is large and can go east or west.

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“I can’t think in my experience of another place in the Great Lakes where an oil spill would have as wide an area of impact in as short a time than in the Straits of Mackinac,” he said.

Schwab has compiled six videos of where a 12-hour oil spill from the pipeline would travel over 20 days and spread for a couple hundred miles.

The Enbridge Corporation, which has had pipeline spills in Wisconsin and Michigan in recent years, said that it’s proud of the operational history of Line 5 and said the Straits of Mackinac crossing has been incident-free since it was constructed in 1953. Enbridge said it’s committed to maintaining that record.

You can watch Schwab’s oil spill simulation in the video below: