Coal Region News

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) supports closing Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, a move that would further increase Midwest consumers' gasoline prices. Line 5 moves large quantities of natural gas and oil through Canada and the Great Lakes area.

Whitmer is going against Enbridge in both state and federal court to try to shut the line down, according to an editorial by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). 

"Americans are already paying an average of $4 for a gallon of gasoline these days," WSJ said. "And if Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer succeeds in shutting down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, consumers will pay even more in the Midwest."

The war in Ukraine has stoked further anxieties about gas prices.

“This war is roiling an already tight global oil market and making it hard to determine if we are near a peak for pump prices, or if they keep grinding higher," Andrew Gross, American Automobile Association (AAA) spokesperson, said. "It all depends on the direction of oil prices.”

Whitmer views the environmental angle as the bigger issue. 

"Enbridge has routinely refused to take action to protect our Great Lakes and the millions of Americans who depend on them for clean drinking water and good jobs," Whitmer said, according to a press release from her office.

Experts say there is no way to replace Line 5, and its closure would cause refineries in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario, and Quebec to lose as much as 45% of their oil input. Line 5 also provides 65% of propane demand in the Upper Peninsula and 55% of propane use in Michigan, according to Enbridge's website. On aggregate, Line 5 shifts as many as 540,000 barrels per day of light crude oil, light synthetic crude, and natural gas liquids (NGLs), which are used to make propane.

Research shows that the closure would spark a 9.5% to 11.7% uptick in gas prices, the WSJ editorial said. 

Compounding the problem, the average price for gas in the United States is $4.27 per gallon — and only nine cents lower in Michigan — according to AAA. The pipeline closure would add to those issues. The WSJ editorial board claimed it would cost people in certain Midwest states $4.75 billion more every year for gas. This could create public demand for additional American oil; a recent poll by the Trafalgar Group showed that 77% of Americans want the loss of Russian oil to be supplemented with American oil. 

Polls also demonstrated that surging gas prices are altering how Americans plan to drive. Two-thirds of people polled claimed that gas prices were too high when the national average was only $3.53 per gallon, AAA said. 59% of Americans reported they want to decrease their driving in response to higher gas prices.

The Line 5 oil tunnel was initially opened in 1953 and was planned to last 50 years, according to The Petoskey News-Review. Analysts testified in court in February that climate damage caused by the pipeline goes beyond the limits proposed by the Michigan Environmental Protection Act.

Whitmer's office argued for the decision by noting that the pipeline was dented and damaged, and did not have necessary protective coating.