Video preview: Gov. Snyder visits Michigan Tech's GLRC

By Michele Bourdieu

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, third from left, chats with Guy Meadows, left, Great Lakes Research Center director, about Michigan Tech's monitoring buoy (lower left), which will soon be deployed in the Straits of Mackinac. Also pictured, from left, are Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Director Keith Creagh, Michigan 110th District Rep. Scott Dianda, and Michigan Tech University President Glenn Mroz. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

[Editor's Note: This article is a preview of a more comprehensive report on today's visit by Gov. Snyder to Michigan Tech. Watch for the full article, coming soon.]

HOUGHTON -- Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, along with several state officials, visited Michigan Tech's Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) today to learn about a partnership between the GLRC and Enbridge to monitor the Straits of Mackinac.

Enbridge owns an aging, 62-year-old pipeline, Line 5, which runs underneath the Straits and carries more than 500,000 barrels of oil/petroleum products each day. Citizens and environmental groups have called for Line 5 to be shut down because of concerns about a potential oil spill that could have disastrous effects on the Straits, Mackinac Island and surrounding areas and the Great Lakes ecosystem.*

In addition to touring the GLRC and observing some of the technology to be used in the project, including a monitoring buoy to be deployed in the Straits of Mackinac next week, Snyder and other officials, including DNR Director Keith Creagh, took a short ride on Michigan Tech's Research Vessel Agassiz and spoke with representatives of several media outlets.**

Here Gov. Snyder fields some questions from the media:

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder answers questions from the media during a visit to Michigan Tech University's Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) today, Aug. 13, 2015. Snyder and other officials toured the GLRC and learned about a partnership between Michigan Tech and Enbridge to monitor the Straits of Mackinac, where Enbridge has an aging pipeline. Michigan Tech will deploy a monitoring buoy in the Straits next week as part of the project. (Video by Keweenaw Now)

* To learn more about citizens' concerns about the pipeline, see our June 17, 2015, article, "Scientific report on Enbridge pipeline under Mackinac Straits warns of risks; citizens call for pipeline shutdown." See also oilandwaterdontmix.org.

** Visit the GLRC Web site to learn more about their work.