“I've given up expecting Michael to do the right thing. Or the decent thing. Or even the comprehensible thing.” -Dwight, The Office (2011)
It has been hard, during the recent gas shortage in parts of the U.S., to feel too bad for the people it’s afflicted. They have swallowed every piece of climate dogma hook, line, and sinker; they have voted resoundingly for failed Democrat policies over and over and again; they rejected the energy independence of President Trump for a zombie politician hellbent on making Jimmy Carter look like he did a good job.
Granted, the recent havoc wreaked because of the Colonial Pipeline shutdown – the spike in prices and the long lines were – was the fault of criminals. But in the Midwest we have similar chaos on underway … but this time an elected official, not hackers, is playing the role of the criminal.
Without proper authority, Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has forced the shutdown of the Line 5 Pipeline that links Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
Operated by the Canadian company Enbridge, the Line 5 Pipeline has for more than 50 years provided essential energy infrastructure to the people of Michigan and the entire Great Lakes area. Whitmer ordered Enbridge to cease operating by May 12 or she would seize the company’s profits because the company was guilty of “trespassing” and “unjust enrichment.”
Beyond the fact that this is a violation of an international treaty with America’s closest and dearest ally, one has to wonder why any public official – even one as extreme as Whitmer – would continue pushing to close a pipeline now.
The Colonial shutdown triggered immediate problems, with gas station lines not seen in the US since the 1970s. Airlines had to reroute passengers. The average price of a gallon of gas rose to more than $3 a gallon, its highest since 2014. Ripples went throughout the entire country, all the way to Florida and Alabama, while northern South Carolina and southern Virginia were hardest hit: 71 percent of filling stations in Charlotte ran out of fuel as did 87 percent of stations in Washington. In total, 17 states and the District declared states of emergency.
And if Whitmer gets her way – sacrificing the Line 5 Pipeline on the altar of her climate gods – she would create “Colonial on steroids.”
Williams said the crude is shipped from Canada to one of PBF Energy’s refineries in Toledo, Ohio, and then provides gasoline, diesel, and propane to significant portions of the Great Lakes region.
The pipeline is the source of 40 percent of the crude capacity of regional refineries, PBF Energy spokesman Brendan Williams told Breitbart. Just the Toledo-area refineries supply:
- 30 percent of Ohio’s gasoline
- 42 percent of southeastern Michigan’s gasoline
- 35 percent of Ohio’s diesel
- 14 percent of southeastern Michigan’s diesel
- 100 percent of Detroit Metro airport jet fuel
Propane supplies for more than 330,000 Michigan households would increase by a cost of between $0.10 and $0.35 per gallon, according to one study. Switching to electrical heating would cost households more than $2,000 each. Switching the region to natural gas would impose infrastructure costs of more than $500 million.
To keep the same level of oil flowing, if the pipeline were successfully sabotaged, would demand 2,000 trucks per day – everyone one of which has a higher carbon footprint than the pipeline.
Obviously, Whitmer’s terrible plans are drawing attention.
Refinery workers whose union dues are (doubtless) funneled to Democrat campaigns are protesting. Five members of Michigan’s congressional delegation have demanded President Biden intervene. Canadian National Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan has argued that this violates a treaty between our two countries. After the Colonial crisis, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has had a come to Jesus moment on the value of fossil fuels. Even Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, who wants to shut the pipeline down herself, has said Whitmer can’t close Line 5 without a court order.
All this comes at the same time that Whitmer has caught heat for flying a private jet – the worst-polluting device on the planet – from Michigan to Florida. One hopes that the governor will see the light and end up doing the right thing. Or the decent thing. Or even the comprehensible thing. But the more likely outcome is that she will be forced to.