Recent national and international news about the Enbridge Energy's Line 5 pipeline may make it seem like the pipeline might shutter any day now, with major implications for winter fuel prices.But a year since Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered the pipeline shuttered over safety concerns, its future is no clearer today than it was then.
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CALGARY For Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia, the impending shutdown of a pipeline that supplies fuel to his city’s biggest employers has been “hovering” for seven months.
That anxiety has been steadily building ahead of a deadline this month imposed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer for Enbridge Inc. to shut down its Line 5 pipeline, which crosses through Michigan, where it delivers more than half of the state’s propane needs, en route to deliver oil to Ontario, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
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MDARD
Funds aimed to improve state’s energy efficiency and safety
For immediate release: March 5, 2021
LANSING, MI – The state’s retail propane marketers have approved a referendum to establish the funding mechanism for the Michigan Propane Commission, created in statute last year. The initial assessment will be at the rate of 1/10 of 1 cent per gallon upon odorized propane sold and placed into commerce in the state. The results of the referendum were certified today by Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Gary McDowell.
“Improving energy efficiency helps protect our natural resources, reduces long-term environmental impacts and makes sure that Michiganders can heat their homes,” said McDowell. “We look forward to working with the Commission to educate consumers and increase the use of high-efficiency products in our rural communities.”
9 & 10 News
February 22, 2021
On February 20, Governor Whitmer signed an executive order declaring a state of energy emergency for the state due to recent colder temperatures across the country. It aims at ensuring adequate propane distribution throughout Michigan.
It suspends restrictions on commercial driving hours, allowing more time for them to make deliveries to both businesses and residential areas. In the order the governor said,” “While I am confident that our state has the energy supply we need to get through these cold winter days, we aren’t taking any chances after what happened in Texas.”
Representative Jack O’Malley responded to the order saying, “We need to deal with hard times like we’re seeing now and then we need to learn from them. Michigan deserves that their government protects the affordable and reliable delivery of heat fuel to their homes, not a government that gambles with it.”
Feb 10, 2021
Propane supply to the Upper Peninsula has been a flashpoint in the debate about Line 5, a 67-year-old, Canadian-owned oil pipeline running along the bottomlands of the Straits of Mackinac. The public deserves to have a realistic, clear understanding of whether the U.P. will have an adequate propane supply, or available alternatives, following the planned shut-down of Line 5 in May 2021.
The pipeline owner argues Line 5 is an irreplaceable source of propane for U.P. homes, but is it? Since the propane industry is unregulated, the best we can do is follow what they say. The propane industry has consistently said, both in the news and during UP Energy Task Force (UPETF) meetings, that they have enough supply. On Friday, Feb. 12, the U.P. Clean Energy Conference Series (www.upcleanenergy.org) will host propane retailers on this question.