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White House: U.S. is Not Considering Shutting Down Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline

enbridge sign
Line 5 is a key conduit of crude for Canadian refineries in Ontario and Quebec. PHOTO BY POSTMEDIA

Talks between the White House and the Canadian government will take place about a key pipeline that carries Canadian crude through Michigan. The U.S. will not be considering shutting it down.

The US and Canadian governments will ‘engage constructively’ on the pipeline’s future, said the White House deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday

“These negotiations and discussions between the two countries shouldn’t be viewed as as anything more than that, and certainly not an indicator that the U.S. government is considering shutdown,” she said. “That is something that we’re not going to do.”

The remarks clarified the Biden administration’s position in an escalating dispute between Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Enbridge. Republicans slammed the US for considering shutting down the pipeline that delivers propane and oil to the Midwest at a time when energy prices are rising due to supply shortages.

Justin Trudeau’s government has paid attention to the fact that the line is a major conduit for oil from refineries in Ontario and Quebec. Canada recently invoked provisions of a 1970s treaty to defend the operation of the pipeline, raising the dispute to an international level.

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden cancelled the controversial Keystone XL project, which would have helped ship Canadian crude to US refineries. In the end, siding with Whitmer on closing Line 5 could raise fuel prices in Michigan and sour relations with Canada.

Whitmer claims that the Straits of Mackinac, where Line 5 crosses, pose a threat to the Great Lakes because it could spill oil into the waterway. Enbridge has so far defied the order, leaving the two parties to pursue a case in Federal court.

The Calgary-based pipeline company claims that its plan to construct a tunnel beneath the lakebed to house the pipeline will make it safer. Engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are currently studying the tunnel plan.

Original source material for this article taken from here

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Written by Olivia Woods

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