This week, state leaders will gather for the Detroit Regional Chamber's annual conference on Mackinac Island to discuss ways to position Michigan as a national economic leader. Just to the west, submerged more than 200 feet below the glistening waters surrounding the Mackinac Bridge, there's a looming threat that should be at the top of any agenda dedicated to Michigan's economic vitality.

Two 61-year-old pipelines pumping oil through the Straits of Mackinac pose an unthinkable risk — not only to the largest source of freshwater on the planet but to Michigan's economy. Our state has more than 660,000 jobs and $49 billion in annual wages linked to using Great Lakes water. The lakes define our landscape, our culture and our history — and our tourism industry — more than anything else.

The potential for an oil spill in that delicate region is a threat our business and political leaders must not ignore. Oil pipelines, and their inherent risks, don't belong in the Great Lakes.

It was a different era in 1953 when the 29-inch pipelines were laid. That was before the state of Michigan even issued permits to use the Great Lakes bottomlands. Environmental disasters like the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico were far in the future. People had more trust in technology and corporations to protect our natural resources. Climate change wasn't a looming global crisis.

Today we know more: Pipelines leak, burning oil causes climate change and renewable energy is not only a viable alternative to fossil fuels but a huge and growing economic engine for the future.

We don't have to look too far for proof of the danger. In 2010, a pipeline owned by Enbridge — the same Canadian company that owns the Mackinac lines — leaked 800,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River, despite assurances that it had effective safety precautions in place. It was the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history. It devastated the river. Today, four years later, the cleanup continues.

But it isn't just large-scale spills that have a growing number of people concerned about the future of our freshwater. The National Wildlife Federation has documented dozens of leaks throughout the Midwest pipeline network, underscoring what most of us feel in our gut: Even with safety precautions, there is a real and pressing risk of a release.

After all that we have learned about the risk of pipelines, the time has come to take a strong stand to keep oil out of the Great Lakes. State and federal officials must take aggressive action to minimize this risk immediately. And they should simultaneously set into motion a comprehensive plan to remove the Line 5 pipeline entirely. It may take a generation before we run our economy on cleaner energy, but in the meantime, we cannot risk an oil spill in our Great Lakes.

As Gov. Rick Snyder and state and federal lawmakers relax on the Grand Hotel's majestic porch contemplating Michigan's future, I hope they look to the west and consider the urgency of what a pipeline leak would mean to our way of life. It's hard to imagine any future conferences taking place on an island with oil lapping at the shores.

Jim Lively is the program director for the Michigan Land Use Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Traverse City.