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Canada, US, head to showdown over Line 5; Enbridge ponders alternates
Gary Park for Petroleum News
The United States and Canada seem to be stumbling blindly into an energy showdown without precedent as the clock runs down on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s order for Enbridge to shut its Line 5 on May 13.
If Whitmer succeeds in her resolve to cut off 540,000 barrels per day of shipments from the Alberta oil sands to Ontario and Michigan, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given no indication how it will respond and what options are at its disposal.
There have been only inconclusive attempts to open discussions at the highest level between the administrations of Trudeau and President Joe Biden, casting a shadow over the relationship between the two leaders.
Meanwhile, Whitmer has dug in on her deadline, citing the environmental risk of a possible leak in a 4-mile stretch of Line 5 that passes under the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes, while refusing to engage in any public discussion or answer media questions.
In operation almost 70 years Line 5 has been in operation for almost 70 years without ever leaking into the straits, although the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration has logged eight minor spills from the pipeline since 1980.
The Trudeau government has pledged to wage a public fight to keep Line 5 open and save a key link in deliveries of heating fuels to Michigan and to Ontario, catering to a combined population of 40 million.
The issue comes less than four months after Biden unilaterally halted work on the Keystone XL pipeline as part of his climate change strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. His refusal since then to engage in bilateral talks on energy matters has troubled and frustrated lawmakers at Canada’s federal and provincial levels.
Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman and federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna have met separately with Whitmer, but on both occasions the governor refused to budge.
Canada exports Canada has been a mainstay of U.S. imports of oil and natural gas since the 1960s, currently exporting 3.7 million barrels per day of crude to the U.S., about 80% of Canada’s output.
A spokesman for Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan said in late April that the fate of Line 5 has been discussed at 23 virtual meetings involving members of Trudeau’s cabinet and high-level officials and the U.S. Congress, without yielding any results.
O’Regan has said the future of Line 5 is “non-negotiable,” while limiting himself to only vague hints that Canada is prepared to invoke an obscure 1977 bilateral treaty to stop the U.S. or Canada from impeding the cross-border flow of oil.
However, the Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has also indicated there is less than unity within the Trudeau cabinet.
“Clearly Line 5 is an important issue for the government of Canada,” he said. “At the same time, we need to be advancing on a cooperative basis the work we’re doing on climate action.”
To Canada’s petroleum industry and the Alberta government, those remarks are viewed as clear evidence that the balance of opinion among Trudeau’s domestic allies, including within his own government, tilts decisively to Biden’s climate priorities.
Wilkinson spoke to Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry on Feb. 24, without making any headway on Line 5.
“The issue in Michigan is the governor,” Wilkinson said following the discussion.
Since then Kerry and the White House have refused requests for comment.
Calgary-based Enbridge has insisted it will not shut the pipeline unless Whitmer gains the support of a judge in the U.S. federal court.
Involvement in court fight? A Canadian government source said the Trudeau administration is considering whether to take part in the U.S. court action by filing an amicus, or “friend of the court” brief, which would lay out the reasons for backing Enbridge.
Enbridge has said shutting Line 5 would cause fuel shortages and gas price spikes and require 25,000 trucks and 800 rail cars a day to replace the 540,000-bpd capacity of Line 5.
The company also said Michigan would need truck transport to cover lost propane shipments, while refineries in Michigan and Ohio would need to secure feedstock from other suppliers, which Whitmer has insisted can be arranged.
In addition there has been talk that Enbridge could deliver crude through its mainline system to the Great Lakes and use tankers to complete the journey to its Ontario destinations.
Scott Archer, business agent with Local 663 Pipefitters Union of Sarnia, home to three Ontario refineries, told a committee of the Canadian Parliament that Line 5 is the “spinal cord of Ontario’s infrastructure.”
“Shutting down Line 5 will in effect kill my hometown (with a population of 71,500) … and many more places like it in Canada and the U.S.,” he said.
- GARY PARK
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