GRETCHEN WHITMER IS AT IT AGAIN: The Michigan Governor has Threatened to Shut Down Line 5 “Within Months” – Jim Warren

Currently the Northern Shield pipeline is the only backup plan on the table to keep Ontario’s trucks running and airplanes flying.

By Jim Warren

The Line 5 saga continues. Once again Michigan’s courts, state regulators and its Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, are casting doubt about the future of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. The shutting down the pipeline would create a problem of epic proportions for Ontario. The province depends on Line 5 for 540,000 barrel of Canadian crude oil per day, representing the lion’s share of the oil it consumes.

The trouble dates back to at least 2018 when a tugboat dropped its anchor onto the four mile section of the pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac. These Straits are the narrow bodies of water connecting Lake Michigan with Lake Huron. The main crude oil line wasn’t damaged, but a small utility conduit carrying oil used to prevent pipeline corrosion was harmed, leaking 800 gallons dielectric oil into the Straits.

Not exactly an Exxon Valdez-level event (10.8 million gallons), but reason enough for Michigan’s “green avengers” to light their hair on fire.

Since then there have been at least six lower court cases and numerous protests in opposition to Line 5 and the potential environmental hazard it allegedly represents. Legal challenges, appeals of lower court rulings and protests by local Indian bands and environmentalists have contributed to Line 5’s operating permits to being revoked and then later reissued on several occasions.

Recent challenges have focused Enbridge’s plan to build a tunnel to ensure the safety of the section of the line running under the Straits. Estimated to cost from $750 million to $800 million, the 21 foot diameter, concrete-lined tunnel will be built in the bedrock 100 feet below the bottom of the Straits.

Governor Whitmer initially wanted Line 5 shut down. But changed her position based, in part, on Enbridge’s commitment to the tunnel project.

However, earlier this summer the Michigan Supreme Court handed down a ruling stating “The state must more thoroughly scrutinize the environmental consequences of the proposed tunnel and the alternatives to it.” The ruling required regulators to revoke the permit that enabled construction of the tunnel.

Subsequent to that the governor reversed her position again. Ironically, her renewed opposition is in response to the Enbridge’s failure to get the tunnel completed. This is a rather hypocritical position given the role played by the state in delaying construction. Whitmer wrote a letter to Enbridge’s outgoing CEO, Greg Ebel, on September 9, telling him to expect her order to shut the line down “within months.”

FYI: Line 5 is an offshoot of Enbridge’s Mainline System, which is the company’s principal conduit for exports of Canadian crude to the US. Line 5 begins at Superior, Wisconsin. The line crosses Wisconsin and the state of Michigan on the way to its terminus at Sarnia, Ontario. Sarnia is Ontario’s main oil refining and petrochemicals hub. On its way to Sarnia the pipeline delivers oil to a few American refiners. However, the bulk of the oil it transports (approximately 540,000 bpd) is delivered to Sarnia.

During the War of 1812 a band of Canadians, Indians and British combatants captured the Straits of Mackinac from the United States. Today’s problems date back to the bizarre British decision to give them back after the war.

Enbridge’s Line 5 crude oil pipeline

Note: Line 5 diverges into two separate 20” diameter pipelines as it travels along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac.

Returning to Ontario’s predicament, should Whitmer actually shut Line 5 down “within months” the province would be scrambling to find a way to obtain the diesel fuel, gasoline and jet fuel required to keep society running. So far the only backup plan announced to maintain Ontario’s fuel supply is construction of a new pipeline running from Hardistry, AB to Sarnia following an all-Canadian route.

On July 6, Premiers Danielle Smith and Rob Ford announced a proposal to build a 550,000 bpd crude oil pipeline along what they are calling the Northern Shield Energy Corridor. The premiers indicated the project would support national sovereignty and energy independence. It is one of those projects in the national interest that our prime minister claims to support and is willing to fast track.

Clearly it’s a great idea, an absolute no brainer. That is except for the fact that even with fast tracking and the recent removal of oil pipelines from the purview of Bill C-69, completion of a Northern Shield Pipeline would take a few years.

Proposed route for the Northern Shield Energy Corridor/Pipeline

What will Ontario do for fuel if Line 5 is shut down by Whitmer in the next few months?

Thus far all we’ve heard from the mainstream media and Doug Ford on the subject is crickets.

Surely somebody has at least thought about a backup plan. Otherwise, trucks transporting essential goods like groceries won’t run, planes won’t fly and autos that burn gasoline will stay parked.

There are people from the oil industry on the Prairies who have been thinking about what might be done to avoid catastrophe. One option mentioned would be to gather up every railway tanker car available in North America and run as many trains as possible from Hardisty to Sarnia.

Discussing the options available seems like something Ontario-based journalists might want to look into. Unfortunately there are intellectually disabled climate change alarmists in Central Canada, including some fanatical journalists, who would be happy to see an oil-free Ontario regardless of the consequences.

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