Senators introduce pipeline safety bills to protect Great Lakes
WASHINGTON D.C. — The future of pipeline safety in the Great Lakes was a topic of discussion Wednesday afternoon during a joint press conference with Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters. The two introduced a package of bills aimed at pipeline safety in the Great Lakes.
If passed, the four bills would make any in-shore pipelines treated as if they were off-shore pipelines, give the government the option to shutdown any pipeline under certain circumstances and hold all pipeline owners accountable for any damages done by an oil spill. Senators Stabenow and Peters both addressed the potential impact an oil spill would have on the Great Lakes.
“This legislation basically says any pipeline in the Great Lakes, if there is a disaster, there is no cap on the liability,” said Senator Peters. “The company is responsible for every bit of cleanup, every single dollar, no matter how large it is.”
“This is a natural resource for us in Michigan,” said Senator Stabenow about the Great Lakes. “Taxpayers should not have the double-whammy of losing our precious water and at the same time having to pay for the cleanup.”
In 2010, an oil spill in the Kalamazoo River cost one billion dollars to clean up. The senators both said if an oil spill were to happen in one of the Great Lakes, it would cost billions of dollars to cleanup.
To read more about the package of bills, click HERE.