Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is speaking out after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer began an attempt to shut down a pipeline that carries Alberta oil through the state of Michigan.
Speaking on the Roy Green Show, Kenney noted that Enbridge’s Line 5, which transports Alberta oil to Sarnia through Michigan, is economically crucial to the region.
“Line 5 is a 60-year old pipeline that has safely transported Alberta oil to the Upper Midwest states and Southern Ontario without significant environmental incident. It is the single largest supplier for gasoline, ultimately, in Southern Ontario,” he said.
“This is just part of the broader campaign to landlock Canadian energy that I have spoken about so many times.”
On Friday, Whitmer began a legal fight to have Line 5 decommissioned over concerns the underwater pipeline threatens the environment in the Straits of Mackinac. Enbridge maintains the underwater portion of Line 5 has never leaked.
While Enbridge says it can build a new tunnel under the Straits to meet Michigan’s safety demands by 2024, Whitmer claims the state cannot wait that long.
Line 5 delivers around 540,000 barrels of Alberta oil a day to refineries in the Great Lakes region. Kenney alleges that the loss of Enbridge Line 5 would be disastrous to industry in both countries.
“The impact of this would be devastating,” he said.
“It is the single largest supply of aviation fuel out of the Detroit airport, for heating fuel in northern Michigan, for the refineries in northern Ohio that fuel much of the midwest U.S. economy, so this is a very very big deal.”
Kenney says he has been actively trying to work with Whitmer and other regional leaders to come to an agreement on the future of Line 5.
While Whitmer refused to meet with Kenney in 2019, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine have assured Kenney that they support Line 5.
