The Unified Command has announced that the American Transmission Company (ATC) will use sonar scanning technology and a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to assess damage to the affected utility cables in the Straits of Mackinac.
ATC contracted with Durocher Marine and T&T Subsea to provide tugs, a barge, and an ROV to assess the damage to the utility cables. A tug with sonar side-scanning technology will locate the damage in the utility cables, and the ROV will obtain underwater, images of the cables.
Until today, more than 300 gallons of mineral oil has been extracted from the utility cables. In addition, wildlife professionals from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) Wildlife Services program performed wildlife surveillance from land and did not observe any impacted birds or wildlife.
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When weather conditions are safe, USDA-APHIS wildlife professionals, MI DEQ environmental experts, and US Coast Guard marine science technicians will continue efforts to survey the area from vessels and airplanes to identify any impacts to the environment. No impacts have been identified so far.
The US Coast Guard marine casualty investigation into the vessel activity that may have contributed to damage to the ATC cables and the three dents in the Enbridge pipelines is ongoing.
