April 15, 2021 | What Happens if Canada Loses an Oil Pipeline?
Stewart Muir Stewart Muir is founder and executive director of the Resource Works Society, a Vancouver-based group open to participation by British Columbians from all walks of life who are concerned about their future economic opportunities. He is an author, journalist and historian with experience on three continents including a financial editor of The Vancouver Sun responsible for mining and markets coverage. Since Resource Works was established in 2014, the group has gained international recognition for its practical approach to the public challenges of responsible natural resource development and use.
A Parliamentary committee has looked at what would happen if the United States goes through with Michigan’s threat to cripple the Canadian economy by unilaterally shutting down the Line 5 pipeline.
February 22, 2021
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a Michigan energy emergency on Feb. 20 to “ensure adequate propane distribution” for the foreseeable future.
“While I am confident that our state has the energy supply we need to get through these cold winter days, we aren’t taking any chances after what happened in Texas this week,” Whitmer said in a press release.
In November, Whitmer took action to shutdown the Line 5 pipeline that supplies much of the propane fuel used in Michigan.
Line 5 travels under the Straits of Mackinac in two 20-inch diameter parallel pipelines. The pipelines go underground onshore and then go deep underwater for 4.5 miles.
In the wake of the cancellation of the Presidential Permit for the TC Energy Keystone XL pipeline project, all eyes have turned to Enbridge’s Line 5, which the Governor of Michigan has been moving . . .
(Adds comment from environmental group)
CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Michigan’s environment department on Friday approved some of the permits needed for Canadian company Enbridge Inc to build a tunnel to house its disputed oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac.
Enbridge’s 68-year-old Line 5 pipeline carries 540,000 barrels per day of light crude and propane, and one 4.5-mile (7.2-km) section runs underwater along the lakebed.
Environmentalists concerned about the risk of a spill into the Great Lakes are trying to have the pipeline shut down, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has revoked its easement, a move Enbridge is fighting in federal court.