LANSING, MI -- Michigan officials are demanding an apology from Enbridge Inc., saying the company knew about damage to the protective coating on its Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac in 2014 but did not disclose the problems until this summer.

During a presentation to the state pipeline board in March, Enbridge denied there were any gaps in the coating around the controversial dual underwater pipelines, but later disclosed that there were numerous patches of bare metal on Line 5 larger than dinner plates.

The revelation prompted Gov. Rick Snyder to order an "aggressive review" of Enbridge operations.

Now, the state says Enbridge knew about the damage three years ago and that it occurred while anchors were being installed to better secure the pipeline to the lake bottom.

"We are deeply disappointed that Enbridge did not tell the Pipeline Safety Advisory Board in March the whole story about Line 5 coating deficiencies," said Valerie Brader, director of Michigan Agency for Energy and co-chair of the state pipeline board. "Enbridge owes the people of Michigan, the advisory board and the state an apology."

"This issue is too important to the people of Michigan to not tell the truth in a timely manner, and right now any trust we had in Enbridge has been seriously eroded," she said.

Brader's remarks were issued Friday, Oct. 27 in a joint release with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which has slow-walked review of Enbridge's application to install 22 new support anchors on the pipeline as a means to avoid unsupported spans where erosion washes the bottom away.

Such spans violate the pipeline easement if they exceed 75 feet.

Any decision on that won't happen until next spring, and the damage disclosure will be considered during application review, the state says.

The decision deadline is now March 2, 2018, a delay the state says Enbridge requested. The DEQ says it's expecting more information on the coating damage today.

"The DEQ is going to take this revelation very seriously and will conduct a thorough assessment of the information to consider during our continued review of the permit application," said DEQ director Heidi Grether.

Enbridge issued a statement Friday saying the 2014 damage "did not harm the pipe itself," the gaps have since been repaired, and Line 5's structural integrity "was never compromised."

"Engineers in Enbridge's pipeline integrity department have been aware of the coating damage since they occurred in 2014," said Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy.

"Our pipeline integrity department continued to monitor these areas, and the coating damage was determined not to present any threat to the safety of the pipeline at any time."

Duffy said an "internal reporting issue" caused Kurt Baraniecki, Enbridge director of pipeline integrity, to assure the state that bare Line 5 metal was not exposed.

At the March 14 meeting -- a rowdy affair during which a Petoskey man and his grandson covered themselves with cake batter to make a visual statement about the threat posed by an oil spill -- Baraniecki stressed that coating gaps identified in a federal work plan were just hypothetical and incorrectly labeled.

"At the time, these statements were accurate to the best of (Baraniecki's) awareness," said Duffy. "However, information from our integrity department has surfaced as a result of the state's information request and we are sharing this information publicly. Again, the safety of the pipeline was never compromised; this was an internal reporting issue."

Attorney General Bill Schuette, who is running for election as Michigan governor in 2018, said the company needs to do more than just apologize. Schuette said in 2105 that Line 5's days were "numbered" and has called for decommissioning schedule.

"This latest revelation by Enbridge means that the faith and trust Michigan has placed in Enbridge has reached an even lower level," Schuette said. "Enbridge needs to do more than apologize, Enbridge owes the citizens of Michigan a full and complete explanation of why they failed to truthfully report the status of the pipeline."

Michigan Department of Natural Resources director Keith Creagh and Michigan State Police emergency management director Chris A. Kelenske also issued concerned statements about transparency issues related to Enbridge's communication.

Duffy said Enbridge "has come to recognize that issues which do not present a threat to the safety of the pipeline can still present a strong concern to Michigan, and we are adjusting our communication approach accordingly."

"We regret that this miscommunication may have caused confusion for state officials and the public," Duffy said. "We are committed to being transparent on all matters related to the safe operations of our pipelines in Michigan."

Liz Kirkwood, director of FLOW, a Traverse City nonprofit group advocating for the closure of Line 5, called the latest disclosure "part of the mounting body of evidence that confirms that the citizens of Michigan and the State of Michigan cannot trust Enbridge."

That Enbridge did not tell the state or federal government about the coating gaps for three years is "stunning, particularly because this multinational corporation heralded these screw anchors as the silver bullet solution to address pipeline erosion on the lake bed," she said.

"The citizens of Michigan don't want an apology from Enbridge," Kirkwood said. "They want the State of Michigan to take immediate action to enforce the express legal terms of the 1953 easement with the State of Michigan. Time is of essence."

Mike Shriberg, director of the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes regional center and a member of the state pipeline board, said the latest news was "unfortunately, less surprising than it ought to be."

"It seems every month there is a new revelation about the deteriorating condition of Line 5 and Enbridge's lack of transparency," Shriberg said. "This is the wrong pipeline in the wrong location operated by the wrong company. We cannot continue to allow this pipeline to jeopardize our Great Lakes."