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Business leaders in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin have joined forces with their Canadian counterparts in the l

Canadian, U.S. chambers urge U.S. federal court to keep Line 5 operating

WASHINGTON—Political “brinksmanship” in Michigan risks allowing Enbridge Inc. to abandon plans for a $500-million tunnel that would protect an ecologically sensitive Great Lakes waterway from the controversial Line 5 pipeline, business leaders warned Wednesday.

The Canadian and U.S. chambers of commerce joined forces with their counterparts in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin by filing a joint brief in court to argue against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s bid to shut down the crossborder pipeline.

Wednesday marked Whitmer’s original deadline for Enbridge to shut down Line 5, which she maintains poses an unacceptable environmental risk along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Huron with Lake Michigan.

“The tunnel solution essentially eliminates the risk of an oil spill at the Straits of Mackinac,” the chambers argue in their filing, known in legal parlance

as an amicus brief.

The existing tunnel agreement with Michigan gives Enbridge the right to cancel the project entirely if the pipeline is forced to cease operations, even temporarily, they argue.

“Under the termination clause of two agreements … if defendants comply with the state of Michigan order and involuntarily shut down the pipeline, then defendants can choose to terminate their obligations

to construct such a tunnel.”

The brief anticipates a scenario in which Enbridge temporarily shuts down the line, cancels the tunnel project and then later receives a ruling that allows the line to start back up.

“The chambers urge the parties not to create avoidable short-term crises or put at risk the long-term solution (the tunnel) that they agree is superior to the status quo.”

The so-called “chambers brief” followed a similar filing Tuesday by the federal Liberal government, a rare international foray into U.S. legal proceedings, that urged the court to keep the pipeline running until a settlement is reached.

Wednesday’s deadline was expected to pass without incident; talks with a court-appointed mediator are scheduled to continue past May 18 and Enbridge has said it has no plans to accede to Michigan’s order.

That didn’t discourage those opposed to Whitmer’s efforts to speak their minds.

“This brinksmanship is political theatre,” said Christopher Guith, a senior vice-president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute. “Unfortunately, millions of Americans and Canadians are likely to pay the price for it.”

Richard Studley, the head of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, didn’t mince words, either. “Every Michigan governor I have worked with, until today, has treated our Canadian friends and neighbours with courtesy and respect.”

Enbridge, he said, has gone to great lengths to assuage the state’s concerns, including with the tunnel, promises of aroundthe-clock monitoring, an emergency buoy system and keeping response teams on standby — “only to be demonized for political purposes.”

“It’s really very troubling to the entire business community, to see a governor and attorney general abuse their power like this,” Studley said. “The question it raises in the general business community is, ‘Who’s next?’ ”

BUSINESS

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2021-05-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://torontostar.pressreader.com/article/281964610603668

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