In an interview with Fox News Digital, Republican Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted blasted Michigan’s tyrannical Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her efforts to shut down a major oil pipeline that carries Canadian oil across the Midwest.
Whitmer contends that Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 poses a risk of a “catastrophic” oil spill in the Great Lakes. She and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel have launched legal challenges to close the pipeline built in 1953 that moves oil through northern Wisconsin and Michigan to refineries in Ontario.
“With what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine, I think the world is learning right now that we can’t be dependent on other nations for the supply of our oil and gas who are adversarial to us,” Husted said. “We can work with nations who are allies — in this case, with Canada and Line 5 — but Michigan is being unreasonable and irresponsible with their actions.”
The Russia-Ukraine war, however, hasn’t prompted the Whitmer administration to end its pipeline fight. Nessel recently said she hopes the Biden administration would be more “vocal” on shutting down the pipeline and contends that the impact on Michigan gas prices would be “incredibly minimal.”
A new study out by Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) found that if Line 5 gets shut down, gas prices in the Midwest region would increase between 9.47% to 11.66%.
“Shutting down Line 5 would most likely result in a domino effect, causing our plant and several other regional refineries to most likely close because the primary supply chain for feedstocks would be cut off, along with propane for winter heating,” said Scott Hayes from Toledo Refinery Company in Oregon, Ohio.
“These shutdowns would have a devastating effect regionally – for families living in Michigan who rely on propane delivered via Line 5 and to the rest of the Midwest who will be affected by the huge price spikes predicted from a line closure.”