What’s Line 5?!
First and foremost, Line 5 is a pipeline.
Despite how you feel – stay with us for a minute – it is important to remember that pipelines don’t just provide fuel for electricity to light, heat, and cool your home, and they don’t just bring gasoline for your car either. There are all sorts of products moved on pipelines, and they provide the building blocks for some other really cool things that we use each and every day. Because of...
Why Do We Need An Upgrade?
Like every piece of technology and infrastructure, Line 5 needs to be updated with all of the new techniques, equipment, and materials that have been developed over the last 65 years. From monitoring and safety to construction and steel – an upgraded Line 5 would be a benefit to everyone and our environment.
Just think of it like this: your old cell phone, old TV, and likely, your old car run fine, but it is the new technology, the new...
Did You Say Tunnel?
Why, yes we did! As Line 5 makes its way through Michigan, it crosses at the main Strait of Mackinac through two existing twin lines that sit at the bottom of the lakebed before navigating south into the Lower Peninsulas. Since it was built in 1953, the Straits of Mackinac crossing has never leaked.
While Line 5’s strong safety record has been intact for over 65 years, in 2018, a tugboat operator dropped its anchor on the pipeline. Though the...
What Do Get When You Cross a Smart PIG With Line 5?
Nope – not a Line 5 Swinestein – but you do get a high-tech instrument that performs regular maintenance checking for cracks, dents, dings, gouges, warps, and other types of erosion.
So why are they called PIGs? Well, it’s short for Pipeline Inspection Gauges – or PIGs! While there are PIGs that can clean pipelines, smart PIGs are unique in that they monitor the line from the inside. With lines that vary in size, PIGs can also change in size...
What Is Line 5 Carrying?
When people first hear that Line 5 is coming from Canada – OH, EH? – they automatically assume that it’s carrying heavy crude oil – but it’s not. You see, pipelines carry a lot of different things, and Line 5 just happens to be carrying energy products called light crude oil and natural gas liquids – which some people refer to as NGLs. If you’re curious about what those even are – we’ve got plenty to tell you!
First, it’s...
Get the Facts
Propane
If you’ve ever driven past a house with a big white tank in the yard, you might be able to deduce that propane is their primary source of fuel. In fact, a lot of rural households, farms, and businesses use propane to heat their homes, run their farm equipment, and power their operations, but in most cases, it’s not as obvious as seeing it in the yard or on the back of a truck.
Across the United States, approximately 7.8...
Light Crude
Crude is a pretty general term people give to oil, and it’s easy just to dismiss it as such, but to understand what people mean when they talk about oil honestly, it’s important to know that there are different types of crude oil and each is produced, transported, refined and used in all sorts of ways.
Essentially there are four main types of oil – very light oils, light oils, medium oils, and heavy fuel oils. Most of what Line...
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! SUPPORT BETTER, SAFER ENERGY AND MOVE MICHIGAN FORWARD.
LEARN HOW WE CAN CONTINUE MOVING MICHIGAN FORWARD
MOVING MICHIGAN FORWARD TOGETHER
It is critical that Line 5 is replaced and upgraded to continue to meet the energy needs for families, seniors, households, motorists, and businesses across the state.
Building the Line 5 tunnel will move Michigan forward by sustaining our environment and protecting our communities. The Line 5 tunnel will ensure that families and businesses across our state will not face substantial increases in transportation costs and be able to affordably and reliably heat their homes during the winter.
Join Michiganders from across the state as we work together to move Michigan forward and modernize our energy infrastructure.