STEAM professionals essential to providing energy to consumers
Enbridge workers install upgraded equipment at our Mackinaw City pump station.
Teams representing diverse disciplines keep Line 5 running safely
Aug. 18, 2021
The telephone in your hand, the laptop at your fingertips and the eyeglasses you are wearing are among the thousands of products used every day and manufactured in large part due to those who keep light crude oil and natural gas liquids flowing safely through pipelines.
Enbridge’s Line 5 through the Straits of Mackinac is one such pipeline, which employs approximately 100 people in Michigan alone. The employees are among thousands of scientists and engineers instrumental to America’s energy infrastructure.
“The energy industry embodies STEAM—Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math—relying on the skills and knowledge of a diverse team,” said Sabrin Zayed, Manhattan area supervisor for the Great Lakes region.
“In addition to the laborers who physically help construct pipelines, we have hundreds of professionals working behind the scenes,” said Zayed. “This includes not only the engineers who calculate the best location for a pipeline to transport safely energy and other essential product while minimizing impacts, but also those who have a graphics background and can simplify complex technical drawings to share with the public.”
STEAM professionals identify new technology
The expertise of Enbridge’s STEAM professionals again emerged with Enbridge’s decision to use a tunnel-boring machine (TBM) to help construct the Great Lakes Tunnel.Similar to a giant drill, the TBM is specific to addressing the ground conditions of the lakebed in the Straits.
“The TBM is a great example of what can result from the collaboration among our environmental scientists, hydrogeologists, safety scientists, computer modeling experts, design and mechanical engineers, and others,” said Zayed.
“To the benefit of Michiganders and the region, the team’s efforts helped identify a technological advancement that will help bring to fruition the Great Lakes Tunnel Project.”
Enbridge is investing $500 million to construct the Great Lakes Tunnel, another “engineering marvel,” which is how many defined the birth of Line 5 decades ago.
Enbridge’s STEAM professionals as central to the creation of the Enbridge Straits Maritime Operations Center (ESMOC), which opened in 2020.ESMOC deploys a combination of specially trained staff and sophisticated equipment to monitor Line 5 round the clock.
Through ESMOC, Enbridge now has four cameras in service monitoring vessel and other ship traffic through the Straits. There are plans to add three more cameras by the end of the year. ESMOC staff can communicate in real time with the vessel captain regarding proximity to Line 5, enabling the vessel captain to re-direct the ship as warranted.
