As Enbridge scoffs at the law, Governor Whitmer threatens to seize illegal profits
Photo by ehrlif/iStock
By mid-May 2021, there was no longer supposed to be tens of millions of gallons of oil and gas moving daily through a pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. In November 2020, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer revoked an easement for Canadian fuel company Enbridge to keep using its Line 5 fossil fuel conduit. Environmental activists and Native American tribes that had long advocated for shutting down the aging pipeline celebrated.
But the May 12 deadline for Enbridge to stop using the Line 5 pipeline came and went, and the company hasn’t changed its operations. Oil is still flowing through the Straits of Mackinac—located at the point where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet—and in doing so continues to threaten the largest freshwater source in the world. Enbridge’s decision to ignore the shutdown order raises an obvious question: How can the company get away with ignoring Governor Whitmer’s directive? The short answer is that Enbridge can’t for very long, although its decision will likely require spending money and time in court.