Democrats Threaten to Send Winter Shivers Through Michigan

Shutting down a vital pipeline would endanger the environment and cause energy prices to rise. 

By Jason Hayes. Mr. Hayes is director of environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Excerpts:

"The White House is reportedly studying the consequences of shutting down Line 5, an oil and natural-gas liquids pipeline that carries heating and transportation fuels from Wisconsin through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario."

"Line 5 shouldn’t be a big political issue. The pipeline has operated for 68 years, including a 4½-mile section that traverses the Straits of Mackinac. Along the way, it offloads crude oil at refineries near Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, and natural-gas liquids that are turned into propane in Sarnia. These fuels warm homes and power vehicles and businesses, and there is no easy or inexpensive way to replace them."

"From her first days in office, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has fought to shut down Line 5, and in November 2020 she revoked the easement allowing the pipeline to operate and ordered its owner to cease all operations by May 2021."

"Ms. Whitmer should know better than to cripple a pipeline that powers so much of her state. So should Ms. Granholm, who as energy secretary will play a key role in any White House decision to shutter the pipeline."

"Families would be hardest hit, since Michigan uses more residential propane than any other state. Line 5 provides nearly two-thirds of the supply in the Upper Peninsula and more than half of statewide propane use. The residential price for propane has already increased 38% since winter 2020-21. Michigan’s own research show that closing Line 5 would lead to a nearly 60% jump in prices, depending on location. Regional natural-gas and gasoline prices would surely rise as well, despite already being up 48% and 59%, respectively, compared with last year.

If Line 5 closes, families and businesses will have to get their energy somewhere. The leading option, endorsed by proponents of a shutdown, is to use trucks. Yet that would drive a massive increase in truck traffic—with its own attending emissions—and pipelines are a much safer means of transporting oil and gas. The federal government’s analysis stretching back to 1996 shows that trucks spill more than twice as much as pipelines, and they also do it far more often. Even Ms. Granholm has publicly admitted that pipelines are the “best way” to move these fuels.

Everyone in Michigan wants to protect the environment, yet Ms. Whitmer and the White House could be harming the state’s lakes and landscape at the same time as they hurt the economy. Closing the pipeline means potentially killing 34,000 jobs and nearly $21 billion in economic activity. The better option is what Line 5’s operator has proposed, the state’s environmental regulator has already approved, and 23 of 51 Michigan House Democrats supported in 2020: A new, concrete-lined tunnel buried deep underground, replacing the pipeline section that currently rests on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac."