© 2024 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Whitmer wants feds to intervene in Line 5 case

DETROIT, MI (MPRN)--   Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer wants the Biden Administration to intervene in a dispute over the closing of a pipeline that carries oil to a significant portion of Canada.

Canadian energy company Enbridge is defying a deadline set by the governor this week to shut down the pipeline. 

Michigan officials say Enbridge’s Line 5 under the narrow Straits of Mackinac is old and could cause a catastrophic leak. 

Enbridge counters that it won’t shut the line down unless a U.S. federal judge orders it, not a Michigan court. 

The Canadian government says closing Line 5 could be a treaty violation. But at an event hosted by Axios, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the Biden Administration should support the right of states to dictate what crosses their territory. 

“This pipeline is a ticking time bomb and we’re fighting to protect the Great Lakes. And I’m hopeful the administration will join us,” she said.

Whitmer’s threatening to seize the profits the company makes from the pipeline.

The two sides are in mediation talks ordered by a U.S. federal court.