Winter is approaching and gas prices are skyrocketing, but that’s not stopping the Biden administration from considering shutting down another pipeline.
News that the administration was “quietly studying the potential impact on the market “killing” Enbridge Line 5which transports 540,000 barrels a day of featherlight crude oil and natural gas liquids from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, and then refines it into propane, was first reported by Politico and has sparked fierce opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has long advocated for closing the pipeline due to the possibility of an oil spill. She called the 7.5-mile stretch in the Great Lakes a “ticking time bomb.”
In May, the Democrat ordered Enbridge to shut down the pipeline, which, after Enbridge refused, made the issue an international issue between Canada and the United States.
According to international legal experts, the United States is legally obligated to keep the pipeline operating under the 1977 United States-Canada Transit Pipeline Treaty.
Lawmakers representing the region emphasized that the pipeline “is essential to the lifeblood of the Midwest.”
“If the pipeline were to close, tens of thousands of jobs would be lost in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and the region; billions of dollars in economic activity would be at risk; and the environment would be at greater risk due to additional trucks on roads and rail lines carrying hazardous materials,” Republican Bob Latta (R-Ohio) wrote to President Biden last week in a letter signed by more than a dozen other congressional lawmakers.
They also pointed out the impact of the pipeline closure on prices and shortages.
“Furthermore, as we enter the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, the completion of Line 5 will undoubtedly further exacerbate shortages and rising prices for home heating fuels like natural gas and propane, at a time when Americans are already struggling with rapidly rising energy prices. , high home heating costs, global supply shortages and skyrocketing gas prices.”
After this disturbing report, I joined @boblatt AND @RepJackBergman send a letter to President Biden highlighting the devastating consequences of closing Line 5. Read more?https://t.co/9E5m7vjzfv pic.twitter.com/JKrWF419yS
— Rep. Tim Walberg (@RepWalberg) November 5, 2021
Meanwhile, former Michigan Gov. and current Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Sunday that fuel prices will rise this winter no matter what.
“Yes, it will happen,” Granholm told CNN. – This year will be more steep than last year.
