Canada asks U.S. court to prevent Michigan from shutting down Line 5 pipeline

[SouthBayDem]

Source: CBC

Canada is asking a U.S. court to stop the state of Michigan from shutting down a pipeline that supplies fuel to much of Ontario and Quebec.

In court documents filed today, the federal government sided with Calgary-based Enbridge in a dispute over Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's ongoing attempt to shut down the energy giant's Line 5 pipeline.

Lawyers for the Canadian government argue in an amicus brief that turning off the taps would cause significant damage to Canada's economy and energy security, and would threaten the bilateral relationship between the two nations.

"The proposed shutdown would cause a massive and potentially permanent disruption to Canada's economy and energy security," the document reads.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-amicus-brief-line-5-1.6022141

[2naSalit]

1. Really, Canada?

[Ritabert]

2. How about running it through Canada?

"The pipeline carries 540,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil and other petroleum products east from Western Canada and supplies about half of Ontario and Quebec's fuel — everything from jet fuel for Toronto Pearson Airport to gas for home heating."

[Sgent]

5. Because

we signed a treaty allowing them to do this so we could run pipelines down from Alaska. There is a ratified treaty specifically on this issue, and I don't see how the Judge doesn't toss this out on that basis alone.

[James48]

8. Because it's not subject to the treaty.

The place where the line crosses the Straights of Mackinaw is actually within the State of Michigan, and not a part of an international border. The State determined the holder of the lease had broken the terms of the lease, and, per the agreement, the State ended the lease with formal, proper notice.

Enbridge should shut down until it is resolved. Period.

[Miguelito Loveless]

3. Isn't this the line in dire need of repairs

that threatens Lake Michigan if it fails?

[rdking647]

4. the pip has has operated since 1953

thre is a federal treaty that will stop michigan from shutting it down.
it prevents interrupting the flow of oil and gas between the us and canada

[James48]

9. It doesn't apply.

This is in an internal Michigan routing. The lease terms were not met, so the state cancelled the lease, in the manner required by the contract/lease.

[Wingus Dingus]

6. Is there some imminent concern over a leak, or what is going on here?

Is now really the time to pick this fight?

[friendly_iconoclast]

7. Enbridge 5 is leaky: "Enbridge Line 5 has spilled at least 1.1M gallons in in past 50 years"

https://www.mlive.com/news/2017/04/enbridge_line_5_spill_history.html

MACKINAC COUNTY, MI -- In 1990, a helicopter patrol spotted a patch of oil on the ground about a mile south of Millecoquins Lake near Engadine. The oil was from Enbridge Line 5, which had spilled 630 gallons through a pinhole leak.

That spill is among almost 30 spills along the pipeline -- many of them previously unknown or largely forgotten incidents -- unearthed in federal records by National Wildlife Federation (NWF) pipeline safety specialist and researcher Beth Wallace.

The organization released the results of Wallace's research this week, estimating that Line 5, which runs from Superior, Wis., to Sarnia, Ontario by way of Michigan, has spilled at least 1.13 million gallons of oil in 29 incidents since 1968.

The data comes from inspection records obtained by the NWF through the Freedom of Information Act and others put online recently by the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which Congress has required to make more information accessible to the public...