And it is only a matter of time before that happens, she adds: “The
danger of a breach of this age-compromised pipeline spanning a major
shipping lane in the world’s largest freshwater body increases with
every passing day.”

Although Pollack makes clear that she writes as a private citizen,
she does invoke her nine years as head of the IJC—an entity whose advice
was, and remains, “invariably based upon science and thoughtful
negotiations.”

In light of that history, she says, she would expect both countries
to acknowledge certain facts. First in that lineup? That examination of
Line 5 “shows thinning of the pipeline walls and a history of breaks in
the lakebed anchors essential to keeping the pipeline tightly fixed to
the lake bottom.” Further, she adds, “a current jury-rigged system of
bottomland attachments allows this bent and corroded pipeline to flex
and float in ways it was never designed to tolerate—stresses that
intensify the risk of a breach.”