The International Joint Commission is urging further study on the impact of a possible crude oil spill on the Great Lakes.
The Science Priority Committee put together a report on areas of vulnerability and available responses.
Scientist at the IJC Great Lakes Regional Office in Windsor, Matthew Child, says this is not just a theoretical issue.
"A significant number of pipelines traverse the basin and cross different parts of the lakes, in particular, here in the St. Clair River, Detroit River areas," says Child. "So there's the potential for spills from pipelines."
He says the impact could be different based on the timing of a spill.
"Particularly during spawning and nesting seasons. Early lifecycle phases, organisms are particularly vulnerable to spills, whereas later in life many of the organisms their resilience is up or their ability to move is up," says Child.
The IJC is concerned over the higher volumes of crude being moved on and around the waterways.
"With increasing crude oil transport to and through the Great Lakes basin, the risk of a spill obviously increases as well," says Child. Despite how good the infrastructure is and how well the systems are in place to assure safety, these systems don't always work perfectly."
Child says the available response to control a spill is generally good across the Great Lakes but there's always room for improvement.