By Scott Robbins

Michigan Forest Products Council

LANSING — The stakes for Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel proposal seem to continue to grow with each passing day. A recent Michigan Public Service Commission ruling has set up the project for a full hearing process. The Line 5 pipeline remains shut down pending a ruling by an Ingham County Circuit Court judge. The Detroit News Editorial Board made clearly advocated support for resuming the Line 5 operations and construction as a tunnel under the lake bed, as approved by former Gov. Rick Snyder and Enbridge. For us, the Michigan Forest Products Council, we can sympathize with the Editorial Board and remain hopeful for continued access to reliable and affordable energy courtesy of Line 5.

The Enbridge Line 5 pipeline is a long standing, long operating light crude oil and natural gas liquids pipeline that delivers natural resources from Wisconsin, through the Straights of Mackinac, to Sarnia, Ontario. It is then refined and often redistributed back into Michigan, and well into the depths of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and some Canadian provinces.

The pipeline has been in service for 65 years and in 2018 Enbridge proposed a tunnel agreement to encase the pipeline in a concrete tunnel bored deep beneath the Straits of Mackinac. In Enbridge’s words the objective is to make “a safe pipeline safer,” and further reduce the likelihood of an incident.

For the unaware, since the 2018 agreement, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have used their authorities to block the operation of Line 5.

Recently Enbridge reported potential damages to a Line 5 anchor support that led AG Nessel to order a judge to shut down the line. Following company and federal regulator inspection and approval a brief reopening of the pipe was axed when an Ingham County judge granted AG Nessel a temporary injunction to close the line.

If anything, the anchor support instance seems like the exact trouble a deeper, more robust tunnel casing could resolve. Yet Governor Whitmer and AG Nessel have tied opposition to the project too close to politics to grant Michigan the benefits it is missing out on.

Line 5 doesn’t do the glamorous work but does serve critical fueling functions for a whole host of industries. From the Forest Products Council perspective Line 5 is responsible for powering our industries with roughly one-third of the line’s light crude staying domestic for Michiganders to use.

Much of this light crude is refined into diesel or gasoline that the state’s $20 billion, 96,000 employee forest products industry needs to get the job done day in and day out. Enbridge’s Line 5 is also a key driver of Marathon’s Detroit refinery where it supports 28% of the plant’s feedstock, or enough gasoline to fill tens of thousands of passenger cars.

Moreover, Michigan is a uniquely large consumer of propane, especially in households, according to the Energy Information Administration; Line 5 is responsible for fulfilling the propane demand for 65% of Upper Peninsula households and 55% of statewide demand.

Keeping Line 5 in service will also help preserve the state’s energy production industry. Since the pipeline entered service it has safely delivered nearly 80 million barrels of Michigan produced light sweet crude. Line 5 answers the question of reliable transportation for energy producers.

Beyond Michigan’s confines Line 5 is a catalyst for international business, especially with Canada. As the Financial Post reported, talks of permanently shuttering Line 5 could skyrocket gasoline and diesel prices in Ontario and Quebec while leaving massive refineries without ample supply to remain financially solvent.

Further, how does America continue to build on its energy successes with international suitors if reliable projects continue to become targets of heavy handed elected officials? The long term and punitive nature of power price agreements (essentially energy delivery contracts) is only going to complicate the issue for refineries.

Leadership from the top looks to be the best solution to the Line 5 dispute. Governor Whitmer shouldn’t continue to deny Michigan a critical piece of infrastructure it needs to flourish. She can lead Michigan, allowing low-cost fuel resources to flow to residents.

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Scott Robbins is Director of SFI and Public Affairs for the Michigan Forest Products Council.