EDITOR:

Well, we have all seen the Enbridge full page Press ads with the man on the ship placing a red marker in the water. It had been running ad nauseum for weeks and weeks. The ad is entitled “We’re Working to Protect Michigan’s Waters.” What’s wrong with this picture, literally? It’s been altered. It’s really a picture of Eric Anderson, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, not an Enbridge employee at all. Nor an Enbridge vessel. A NOAA spokeswoman said neither Anderson nor the agency gave Enbridge permission to use Anderson’s image in the ads, which had been running in newspapers across Michigan for weeks, including the Escanaba Daily Press. Not only this but two NOAA logos were also removed from the original photo. News sources reached out to Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy — once by email and multiple times by phone — for more information about the company’s decision to halt the ads. Duffy did not specifically answer all of the questions but did send an official company statement: “Enbridge has removed the ad containing this photograph depiction of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist from circulation. We apologize to the scientist and to the Administration and regret any concerns this may have caused.” Apologize my eye. It’s the age old adage of go ahead and commit the offense and take the flack afterwards as opposed to asking for permission which would have been the professional approach. And of course, this is with the hope of not getting caught. Multiple co-workers of Anderson’s expressed frustration over the use of a government scientist’s image to promote a private entity’s agenda and rightfully so. Enbridge dragged a national very well respected government agency into their deceitful swamp. We can fully expect the Delta County Board of Commissioners, the Escanaba City Commission and the Gladstone City Commission to be approached by Enbridge, if they haven’t already done so, to wrangle support for their tunnel. Enbridge has since changed their ad.

The apology by Ryan Duffy, the Enbridge propaganda minister, is totally bogus. And to all the union homes with signs Proud Union Family with a We Support the Tunnel signs in their yards: Being promised X number of jobs and getting X numbers of jobs are two different realities. Just ask the people in Mt. Pleasant and Racine, Wis., about Taiwan’s technology giant FoxConn’s promises to them. They call it a bait and switch. Corporations don’t care about you, me, kids, the environment, etc. They don’t care about anything except profits. Beware of strangers bearing gifts as the saying goes.

Gerry Niedermaier

Gladstone