By Jordyn Hermani
Staff Writer
Posted: June 9, 2021 3:18 PM

The push to see Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline – both the structure itself, as well as the tunnel the company has proposed building around it to contain a possible oil spill – removed from the Straits of Mackinac has seen many iterations over the past several years.

There's been radio ads, billboards, court battles, legislative tiffs – and now, there's an effort from Michigan celebrities.

Published Tuesday through the National Wildlife Federation, which has been a leading voice in decrying the pipeline's existence, was a 30-second advertising spot featuring Jeff Daniels – who grew up in Chelsea and has stared in numerous television shows, stage plays and films including Purple Rose of Cairo, Pleasantville and The Newsroom.

In the TV ad, Mr. Daniels portrays Line 5 as an "aging, dangerous pipeline" that, should it rupture, "would devastate our Great Lakes, our drinking water and our economy."

"From the Mighty Mac to the Great Lakes, water defines who we are in Michigan. But something lurking beneath our water is putting our Pure Michigan way of life at risk: an aging, dangerous pipeline called Line 5," Mr. Daniels reads, in a voiceover. "A Line 5 oil spill would devastate our Great Lakes, our drinking water and our economy. It's time to stand up for our Great Lakes. It's time to stand with Governor Whitmer and shut down Line 5."

The NWF also has a 60-second radio version of the ad, which also have gone out across the state. But have the ads come too late in the game to make a difference?

Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Department of Natural Resources revoked the 1953 easement in late 2020, which allowed Enbridge to operate Line 5 in the Straits. Enbridge retaliated by suing, arguing that there were no grounds to see the easement revoked and that it should be reinstated immediately.

The deadline for Enbridge to cease operations, May 12, came and went. The Canadian oil company did not comply and is still continuing to utilize the pipeline as the case plays out in court. Meanwhile, the twin pipelines still sit at the bottom of the Straits – unshielded, and still a potential spill liability – as this goes on, still ferrying thousands of gallons of crude oil a day.

Only a court decision will now decide how this ends – but when that will come is also unknown.

Using Michigan talent to establish a bond of trust between a viewer and whatever is being hawked is nothing new: the state does it in every Pure Michigan ad, which routinely features voice work from film star Tim Allen, who grew up in Birmingham. Chrysler did it when they used rapper Eminem to advertise the Chrysler 200 during 2011's Super Bowl XLV.

But whether it will have any effect in the public advocacy work being done to push for a removal of the pipeline, is yet unclear. Unlike the state's tourism industry or purchasing a car, there isn't much of a metric to measure how effective something like this Line 5 advertisement would be, outside the sphere of public opinion – which, in the end, is not responsible for whether this pipeline is decommissioned.

Republican lawmakers and union-backing Democrats have already chosen a side, to back Enbridge on maintaining existence of the pipeline. The governor, DNR and Attorney General Dana Nessel have made it clear they don't intend to back down from their view on the subject of decommissioning it, either.

Enbridge and its supporters have been making a heavy and sustained push, both in advertising and the larger realm of media, to position the pipeline as an absolute must for the region. Their biggest claim is that, should the pipeline shutter, the cost of heating a home in the Upper Peninsula will skyrocket and that it would fiscally injure the Midwest region through the loss of jobs and billions in revenue.

Environmentalists, and others supporting the decommission option, instead have taken to driving home the fact that – should a rupture occur – it would be catastrophic for the region because of Line 5's position in the Straits. It would make containing a spill all but impossible due to the water's currents.

Of late, Line 5 proponents have had the ability to steer the narrative: that the pipeline's closure would spell doom for many.

If groups like NWF – or other common, anti-Line 5 names like For the Love of Water, or Oil & Water Don't Mix – want to cut through the noise, so to speak, an effort outside of producing the same environmental focused points will be needed. Otherwise, the campaign becomes concrete concepts painted in broad strokes versus possibility.

While Mr. Daniels was a good choice for the NWF to use in its campaign, it remains to be seen whether reiterating the same messages – rather than tackling and dispelling claims from Line 5 proponents – will make much of a difference in swaying folks in the court of public opinion or those with the power to decide the question, for that matter.