After the shut down of the Keystone and Colonial pipelines, Democrats are moving to close another oil and gas pipeline in Michigan.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered a Canadian energy company to close its Line 5 pipeline that has a segment running through Michigan.
“Line 5 delivers nearly half of the oil needs of both Ontario and Quebec, as well as propane for the state of Michigan,” reported The Guardian. “Earlier this month, Canada’s natural resources minister said the continued operation of the pipeline was ‘non-negotiable’ and warned that in addition to thousands of job losses, a shutdown would require 800 tanker rail cars and 2,000 trucks each day to move oil.”
Ironically, Canadian officials are pushing back on Whitmer’s order to shut the pipeline down by May 12, and she doesn’t have the authority to do so according to the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty between Canada and the United States.
“Regardless of what the state of Michigan may or may not want to do, the treaty is binding on the United States as a whole,” international trade lawyer Lawrence Herman said. “It’s a matter between the two governments: Canada and the United States.”
By shutting down another pipeline, Democrats like Whitmer are moving America closer to a post-industrial world with reduced energy and manufacturing capacity – and a lower standard of living for all.
A glimpse of this was seen during the Texas ice storm in February in which residents lived with little to no power for weeks.
The end goal is to de-industrialize the US, which is why activists like Greta Thunberg never lecture India or China about their energy use.
Whitmer claimed the segment of Line 5 in question, which crosses under the Straits of Mackinac, was a “ticking time bomb” for an oil spill.
“The company says it has never experienced a leak in the underwater section of Line 5 and is currently working to tunnel beneath the lake bed to further improve the safety of the pipeline,” the newspaper added.
Astute observers would note that Whitmer, who notoriously ignored her own Covid-19 lockdown orders to vacation in Florida, isn’t entirely motivated by environmental concerns given that the pipeline shutdown would lead to the oil being inefficiently transported by thousands of trucks each day.
The cost, of course, would be passed on to Michigan residents.
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