Feds re-open comment period for river pipeline

Responding to pressure from Congress and from Michigan officials and residents, the U.S. State Department has re-opened the public comment period on Plains LPG Services’ permits to pump petroleum products under the St. Clair and Detroit rivers to Canada.

The first public comment opened in January and closed in February without anyone noticing.

Soon after, though, the permit got everyone’s attention when it appeared that Plains LPG was planning to pump crude oil through a pair of century-old pipelines connecting Marysville and Sarnia. The 8-inch pipelines were laid in 1918 and at some point — no one is quite sure when — they were reinforced with 5-inch liners.

At the peak of the uproar over pumping crude oil beneath the St. Clair River through ancient pipes of murky provenance, Plains LPG tried to explain that the permit application wasn’t what it seemed. The company said, truthfully, that it was just clearing up the red tape involved in transferring the pipelines from one owner to another. But it also said that it would never use the two century-old pipelines to transfer crude oil. It wasn’t even sure it would used them for liquified gases.

That’s half the reason the State Department has re-opened the public comment period. The first reason is that most of the elected officials in Michigan, and probably quite a few downstream as well, demanded that the public get the opportunity to explain that using those pipes would be playing Russian roulette with half the Great Lakes.

The second reason is that Plains LPG’s permit does appear to be asking for permission to do what the Houston company has since denied.

In a letter to Rep. Debbie Dingell, the state department says, “After the new permits were issued, Plains provided new information that alters the Department’s understanding of the historic authorization for two of the six St. Clair pipelines.”

Plains LPG had permission to use the pipelines as Dome Petroleum Corp., the previous owner, had used them: “The 1918 Presidential Permit had authorized the transport of crude oil.”

That’s a bad idea.

If you agree, you have 30 days to leave a comment on Plains LPG’s permit application. To make a comment on the permit, go to http://bwne.ws/1prNvib