COLUMBUS — It would amount to little more than Ohio registering its opinion, but state lawmakers are pursuing resolutions urging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to back off plans to shut off the flow of crude oil through the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
The lawmakers see the move by the state up north as a threat to Ohio jobs, particularly at two Toledo-area refineries.
“On a number of fronts I am totally in step with Governor Whitmer and her efforts to make a more inclusive, more progressive state in Michigan, but this in particular is something of an overstep,” said state Rep. Mike Sheehy (D., Oregon), sponsor of House Resolution 13.
“It's maybe a caving-in to a movement not really thought through,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Sens. Kenny Yuko (D., Richmond Heights) and Theresa Gavarone (R., Bowling Green) have introduced a similar measure in their chamber.
Enbridge, Inc., based in Calgary, is in federal court fighting Ms. Whitmer's November order to invalidate a nearly 70-year-old easement with Enbridge's predecessor that allows the 647-mile pipeline to pass through a four-mile underwater stretch between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
The pipeline, through which more than half a million barrels of oil flow a day, feeds crude to consumers including two Oregon refineries that supply gasoline for motorists in Ohio and southern Michigan, jet fuel for area airports, and an array of other petroleum products.
“The closure of Line 5 will significantly impact operations at BPF Energy's Toledo Refining Co. plant and the BP-Husky Toledo Refinery, and could potentially close a refinery, leaving hundreds of hard-working Ohioans unemployed,” reads the Ohio House of Representatives’ resolution.
Environmentalists and Native American tribes, however, worry that a pipeline leak in the environmentally sensitive straits connecting Lakes Michigan and Huron could harm the health of the entire Great Lakes ecosystem. A tugboat anchor caused minor damage to the pipeline in 2018.
Governor Whitmer's office did not respond to an inquiry from The Blade.
Enbridge has proposed digging a tunnel beneath the straits' bottom to lay a replacement pipeline, a $500 million project pursued under the prior administration of Gov. Rick Snyder.
“The narrative out of Michigan has been that this is just an issue about how do we get propane to the Upper Peninsula,” said Scott Hayes, health, safety, environmental, and government affairs manager at Toledo Refining.
“It's a much bigger argument than that at the end of the day,” he said. “It's an issue of the jobs at stake. It's the issue of price hikes for product, not just the product put in gas tanks or that commercial jets use. It's used to make circuit boards in cell phones, windbreaker jackets, medicine, COVID-related plastics that you need....”
Toledo Refining has more than 550 full-time employees, what Mr. Hayes called “very well paying, union jobs,” plus as many as 700 contractors. BP-Husky Toledo Refinery employs 625 people.
Governor Whitmer's move comes in the wake of President Biden's recent decision to revoke the construction permit issued by the Trump administration for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried tar sands crude from Canada through the center of the United States to export terminals on the Gulf Coast.
Mr. Sheehy said the two issues are completely different.
“That pipeline is not finished, is not well thought-out, and not needed much for the United States,” he said. “By contrast, Line 5 has been in place since the 1950s and is something that serves not only northwest Ohio but also south Michigan. Detroit [Metropolitan-Wayne County] Airport is a beneficiary of the fuel.”
Both the House and Senate resolutions have bipartisan support.
First Published March 21, 2021, 9:00 p.m.
