John Flesher And Anna Liz Nichols
FILE - In this October 2016, file photo, is an aboveground section of Enbridge s Line 5 at the Mackinaw City, Mich., pump station. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is threatening to go after Enbridge s profits from a Great Lakes oil pipeline if it isn t shut down. The Democratic governor issued the warning Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in a letter to Enbridge, a Canadian oil transport company. (AP Photo/John Flesher, File) May 11, 2021 - 3:23 PM
LANSING, Mich. (AP) â Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer threatened Tuesday to go after Enbridge s profits from a Great Lakes oil pipeline if the company defies her order to shut it down.
Whitmer threatens seizing profits if pipeline keeps operating By: Associated Press May 11, 2021
4:04 pm
An aboveground section of Enbridge’s Line 5 is seen in October 2016 at a Mackinaw City, Michigan,, pump station. (AP Photo/John Flesher, File)
By JOHN FLESHER and ANNA LIZ NICHOLS
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer threatened Tuesday to go after Enbridge’s profits from a Great Lakes oil pipeline if the company defies her order to shut it down.
The Democratic governor issued the warning in a letter to the Canadian energy transport company on the eve of a state-imposed deadline to halt the operation of Line 5, which moves oil through northern Wisconsin and Michigan to refineries in Ontario. Enbridge repeated its intention to defy Whitmer’s demand.
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In November, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) announced a plan to revoke permission to the company to operate its pipeline across narrow waterways known as the Straits of Mackinac in the state.
Whitemer s deadline is May 12.
“These oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac are a ticking timebomb, and their continued presence violates the public trust and poses a grave threat to Michigan’s environment and economy,” Whitmer’s office said in a statement. In sum, please be advised that Enbridge s continued operation of the Straits pipelines after May 12, 2021 is at its own risk, Whitmer wrote to Vern Yu, president of Enbridge s liquids pipelines division, Crain’s Detroit reported. If the state prevails in the underlying litigation, Enbridge will face the prospect of having to disgorge to the State all profits it derives from its wrongful use of the easement lands following that date.
Enbridge has no plans to halt operations at Mackinac Straits
If it prevails, state to pursue profits Enbridge makes off pipeline
Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 oil pipeline runs under the Straits of Mackinac west of the Mackinac Bridge in the Lake Michigan lakebed.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is giving Enbridge Inc. one last chance to stop the flow of oil under the Straits of Mackinac waterway connecting Lakes Michigan and Huron.
Wednesday is the 180-day deadline for Alberta-based Enbridge to cease operation of its controversial underwater Line 5 twin pipelines along the lakebed of Lake Michigan.
In mid-November, the Democratic governor revoked the 1953 easement agreement that has allowed Enbridge and its predecessors to operate the oil and natural gas liquids pipeline for decades in the environmentally sensitive waterway.
Whitmer threatens profit seizure if Line 5 pipeline keeps operating
John Flesher And Anna Liz Nichols
Associated Press
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FILE - In this June 8, 2017, file photo, fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline near St. Ignace, Mich., as Enbridge prepares to test the east and west sides of the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City, Mich. A Michigan regulatory panel refused Tuesday, June 30, 2020, to grant quick permission to run a new oil pipeline beneath a channel that connects two of the Great Lakes, deciding instead to conduct a full review.Enbridge filed an application in April with the Michigan Public Service Commission to relocate a segment of its Line 5 that extends beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which links Lakes Huron and Michigan.(Dale G. Young/Detroit News via AP, File)