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Michigan wants to ‘have cake and eat it’ on Line 5: Chamber of Commerce

WASHINGTON –

Business leaders from the United States and Canada have once again plunged into the fray over Fifth Street, accusing the state of Michigan of pulling its heels to ensure the controversial cross-border pipeline remains in limbo. legally even when both countries are in dispute. energy crisis.

In a new joint partnership summary, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, its U.S. counterpart, and chambers in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin reiterated their concerns that the closure of the Enbridge Inc. pipeline. would have “tremendous negative consequences” for both sides of the border. .

“Such closures would limit already disrupted energy supplies, a development that is particularly problematic given recent decisions regarding the import of petroleum products from Russia,” the report said. reported by The Canadian Press.

Gasoline prices have skyrocketed across the United States and Canada, a combination of production and supply chain pressures created by the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated by Russia’s energy import bans. part of a global effort to punish Russia for its continued invasion of Ukraine.

The 5th Line dispute has been raging since November 2020, when Governor Gretchen Whitmer – citing the risk of an oil spill in the ecologically sensitive Strait of Mackinac, where it cuts through the Great Lakes – abruptly closed the border. Restore the ease that has allowed it to operate since 1953.

Enbridge insists the pipeline is safe and has received state approval for a $500 million concrete tunnel beneath the strait that will house the line’s twin pipes and protect them from calls. anchor attack. The company has repeatedly stated that it will not arbitrarily close the pipeline.

However, court disputes have less to do with pipeline safety and environmental impact than with legal jurisdiction. Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel have attempted to bring the case to trial in state court, while Calgary-based Enbridge has successfully argued that it belongs to a federal judge.

Enbridge won that argument last fall, prompting Michigan to drop that challenge, instead bringing a separate lawsuit still at the county court level. That case was again settled with the identical question of whether the dispute should be taken to federal court.

Their tactics suggest “state officials are trying to eat their cake and eat it,” the chambers argued in their latest filing.

“The Governor has abandoned his attempt to enforce the shutdown order – with the obvious excuse of avoiding the handling of these arguments by the federal courts.”

They argued that the shutdown order, which remains in place, although not enforced, “brings real harm to Enbridge and to businesses that depend on the interstate and international energy economy to operate.” smooth motion”.

With the order still in effect, Michigan regulators, as well as the United States Army Corps of Engineers, may be required to review Enbridge’s applications for the tunnel project as if the original pipeline did not exist. in. Arguments to that effect have been made before the Michigan Public Service Commission.

In other words, “whether the project has environmental benefits is a more complex analysis than if government agencies had to analyze a fictional reality in which resources no longer flow through pipeline.”

The federal government in Ottawa has submitted two of its own amicus briefs, the latest of which makes clear that Canada and the United States are engaged in negotiations to resolve the dispute under the terms of a treaty. The 1977 bilateral convention was designed to ensure a constant flow of energy. between two countries.

Pipeline advocates say Route 5 supplies more than half of the propane and heating oil consumed in Michigan, and is an important source of energy for Ohio and Pennsylvania, let alone Ontario and Quebec.

Closing it, they argue, would be an environmental disaster, leading to gasoline shortages, rising prices, and an extra 800 oil-filled trains and 2,000 tankers a day on railways and highways across the country. Central Canada and Midwestern United States.

However, environmental groups are not giving up the fight.

A new summary filed this week by a nonprofit called For Love of Water argues that Michigan is obligated to shut down any “non-public trust practices” that cause threat to activities that use public trust such as navigation and fishing – and also to revoke such use in the event of a breach of public trust.

The group argues that when another Enbridge pipeline in Michigan, Route 6B, burst and contaminated the Kalamazoo River in 2010, state authorities were forced to reconsider the company’s remedial measures.

The investigation found that Enbridge had “ignored” the terms and conditions of the agreement “for decades” and altered its pipeline operations without state authorization.

“Based on these general findings, the state has fulfilled its obligation under the public confidence doctrine to revoke and terminate the 1953 mitigation agreement.”


This Canadian Press report was first published on March 17, 2022.

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