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The handling of the Enbridge Line 5 crude oil pipeline threatening the Great Lakes is placing Michigan’s ambitious Governor Gretchen Whitmer at a crossroads: Will her political future and environmental legacy be tarnished by an oily albatross around Michigan’s neck?

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (Photo: Gints Ivuskans)

Back in 2021, when Canada took on Michigan to keep Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline from being shut down, Gov. Whitmer had this to say:

“I am profoundly disappointed that today the Government of Canada chose to invoke Article IX of the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty in a bid to help Enbridge, a private oil company, keep crude oil running indefinitely through Michigan's Straits of Mackinac. So long as oil is flowing through the pipelines, there is a very real threat of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes…rather than taking steps to diversify energy supply and ensure resilience, Canada has channeled its efforts into defending an oil company with an abysmal environmental track record."

Whitmer went on to complain that, quote, “the Government of Canada has chosen to do the bidding of the very oil company responsible for the 2010 Kalamazoo River Oil Spill–one of the largest inland oil spills in the history of the nation that happened right here in Michigan.”

Fast forward three years, and now Gov. Whitmer’s administration is joining Canada in doing Enbridge’s bidding.

As the popular governor prepares to deliver her sixth State of the State address, her appointees to the Michigan Public Service Commission have approved new Line 5 fossil fuel infrastructure in the Great Lakes –the Great Lakes oil tunnel–that will contribute 87 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. It’s those gases that are causing extreme weather events like the massive 2023 Canadian wildfires that poisoned Michigan’s air and water. Meanwhile, Whitmer’s appointees at the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority are doing their part to advance the oil tunnel climate bomb, playing the role of an Enbridge amen chorus and spending millions of Michigan citizens’ tax dollars on consultants to support this supposedly unsubsidized Canadian pipeline.

Whitmer’s otherwise stellar clean energy record suggests she might still be open to taking more action in support of decommissioning Line 5, a move that would also assist in sinking Enbridge’s mammoth pipeline replacement plan for the Straits of Mackinac. She could, for example, weigh in strongly with President Biden and ask him to revoke the presidential permit for Line 5. The question is, why hasn’t she done so yet? Or if she has, why doesn’t she say so? It would seem consistent with her stance in 2020 when she moved to terminate the state’s easement that grants Enbridge permission to use the Straits lakebed. That effort failed when Enbridge used the federal courts to halt the state’s action, which eventually led to Whitmer backing off.

Whitmer could, for example, weigh in strongly with President Biden and ask him to revoke the presidential permit for Line 5. The question is, why hasn’t she done so yet? Or if she has, why doesn’t she say so?

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel continues pursuing her lawsuit against Enbridge, which will get an important hearing in March before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. But, again, the governor has been strangely silent on Nessel’s effort given that, if successful, it would put the future of Line 5 in the Straits back where it belongs–in the hands of a state court. That’s precisely what Gov. Whitmer said she wanted in 2021 when Enbridge had her lawsuit removed to federal court.

For both President Biden and Gov. Whitmer (perhaps a future presidential contender), there may be a big political price for doing nothing about Line 5 and its threat to the Great Lakes and our climate. Biden’s poll numbers among younger voters are cratering, in no small part because his administration is seen as supporting more fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when greenhouse gases are ravaging the planet. Enbridge’s oil tunnel would be a Michigan climate bomb into the next century, and this legacy could undermine Whitmer with younger and most loyal Democratic voters in a future competitive presidential primary election.

Moreover, the proposal must still survive a two-year federal permitting process, get financing, and endure many years of construction in the heart of the Great Lakes. Even if the oil tunnel is approved and completed years down the road, the Line 5 pipeline remains a near- and long-term threat both in the Straits and along U.S. 2, where the Coast Guard worries a rupture could spill millions of gallons of oil into Lake Michigan. Enbridge, Canada, and Gov. Whitmer’s appointees to the MPSC may say the oil tunnel is a solution to the Line 5 problem, but scientists, independent engineers, and common sense say otherwise.

What Gov. Whitmer could and should be doing right now is pushing President Biden to insist he sides with Michigan, the Great Lakes, climate protection, and a clean energy future instead of backing Canada and Enbridge and an outdated and dangerous pipeline.

Two Steps Whitmer Can Take

There are two important ways Whitmer and Biden can partner to end the Line 5 threat:

• The first is to remove Line 5’s presidential permit. A presidential permit is required for oil pipelines that cross international borders into the United States. Canada is asserting treaty rights on behalf of Enbridge’s interest, but Canada is playing a weak legal hand that can be easily overcome.
• In addition, the Biden administration may soon show its hand on Line 5 in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the Justice Department has filed a notice of appearance. Bad River Band and Enbridge are scheduled for oral arguments in that case next month, which will decide whether and when a lower court-ordered Line 5 removal from Bad River reservation land in Wisconsin happens. The Tribe has been in court since 2021 attempting to evict Enbridge from a remote area of its reservation, which is part of the Lake Superior watershed where Line 5 faces an imminent threat of rupture because of flooding and soil erosion.

Gov. Whitmer’s silence on Line 5 since 2021 has consequences for the Great Lakes and our climate. Her record in support of clean energy suggests she understands where the future lies, and it’s not with big new fossil fuel projects in Michigan or an existing, dangerous, old oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. The choices she makes could break the chains imposed by Line 5 going forward and determine the state of our state beyond Wednesday and into the next century. And they could also help her unshackle her political future from a backward-looking fossil fuel project when she leaves office in 2026.

–The Oil & Water Don’t Mix Team

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