No matter the times, energy remains important

Declared a holiday in 1978, National Grandparents Day is celebrated in the United States the first Sunday after Labor Day. For 2022, the day was celebrated on Sept. 11.

All generations need reliable, affordable energy

Sept. 21, 2022

“When I was your age…”

Fill in the blank with any number of times grandparents have started a story and many life lessons with those words.

Grandparents often recall the struggles and changes over the decades, especially regarding life’s basic necessities. Getting food on the table wasn’t as simple as going to the supermarket or placing an online order.

Heating or powering a home also wasn’t as easy as flipping a switch or turning up a thermostat.

“In the 40s, 50s and 60s, energy demands for households, manufacturing, transportation, and other businesses commanded technological innovation,” said Mike Moeller, Enbridge’s director of the Great Lakes Region.

“I know that for many of our parents and grandparents, energy was a top priority as they heated their homes and businesses. Along the way, we needed to put in place a modern energy network that would keep pace in meeting the ever-expanding energy needs of consumers eager to ensure that the basics were covered. Now, many people welcome energy as an everyday convenience.”

Enter Enbridge’s Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.

For more than 65 years, the region has relied on Line 5 in the Straits. In addition to transporting the oil and natural gas liquids essential to the manufacture of 6,000 products, Line 5 supplies more than 65 percent of the propane to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and more than 50 percent to Michigan overall.

Looking toward the future

The energy sources of decades ago helped shape today’s technological advances, including Enbridge’s Great Lakes Tunnel.

Anticipated to be the largest infrastructure project in northern Michigan, the Tunnel will encase a replacement section of Line 5 in the Straits.

Placed deep below the lakebed, the Tunnel will remove the pipeline from the water, eliminating the chance of an anchor strike to it and reducing the chance of a release to near zero.

Enbridge will begin construction of the Tunnel once it receives all necessary permits.

“We learned a lot from our grandparents and the generations that came before us,” said Moeller.

“Those lessons helped develop the resources and technology that will enable us construct the Tunnel to enhance environmental protections while providing safely through Line 5 the much-need energy on which the region depends.”

(Declared a holiday in 1978, National Grandparents Day is celebrated in the United States the first Sunday after Labor Day. For 2022, the day was celebrated on Sept. 11. Others mark the entire month of September as a time to honor grandparents and seniors.)