Green Insanity
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The first law of holes: if you’re in one, stop digging
Hoist by her own pipeline petard
Last fall, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer moved to revoke the permit of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 project, which is the state’s main source of home heating fuels. Now, however, she’s temporarily suspended that order and instead declared a state of emergency amid a bitter cold snap in her state – and is warning that a spike in energy demand for home heating fuels like propane has put a strain on state-wide distribution.
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Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 pipeline delivers about 65 per cent of the propane consumed in the state’s upper peninsula, and 55 per cent of Michigan’s total supply.
Last November, Whitmer moved to revoke the pipeline’s permit, arguing the project – especially a section running beneath the Great Lakes through the Strait of Mackinac – presents an “unreasonable risk” to the state.
How stupid does a politician have to be to try to shut down their state’s main source of home heating fuel right before winter? They would have to be doubly stupid to do this in a state with real winters, like Michigan. As bad as the Texas energy disaster was, the freezing weather that triggered it only lasted about 10 days.
Whitmer moves to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5
Beth LeBlanc
The Detroit News, Nov. 13, 2020Lansing — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is moving to shut down Line 5 by revoking and ending a 1953 easement that allows Enbridge Energy to run the dual pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac.
The announcement was welcomed Friday by environmental groups as protecting the Great Lakes and attacked by neighboring Ohio’s governor and energy groups as costing jobs and raising fuel and heating prices for consumers.
The Democratic governor said Friday she has filed a lawsuit seeking validation of the action in Ingham County Circuit Court. Enbridge must shut down the pipeline by May under the notice.
While the order would have allowed the pipeline to operate until spring, how were Michiganders supposed to heat their homes next winter? The section of Line 5 running through the Straits of Mackinac will eventually be replaced by pipelines running through The Great Lakes Tunnel; however this hasn’t even been fully permitted yet.
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How safe is this pipeline? Here’s what the operator says;
Built in 1953 by the Bechtel Corporation to meet extraordinary design and construction standards, the Line 5 Straits of Mackinac crossing remains in excellent condition, and has never experienced a leak in more than 65 years of operation. The Line 5 crossing features an exceptional and incredibly durable enamel coating, and pipe walls that are three times as thick—a minimum of 0.812 inches—as those of a typical pipeline. What’s more, the Bechtel Corporation—renowned for the iconic Hoover Dam—designed and built Line 5 in an area of the Straits that would minimize potential corrosion due to lack of oxygen and the cold water temperature. This setting contributes to preserving the integrity of Line 5, which has enabled it to serve the region safely and reliably for more than six decades.
We’re working hard to keep it that way. We monitor the Line 5 Straits crossing 24/7, using both specially trained staff and sophisticated computer monitoring systems. We also carry out regular inspections of the line, using inline tools, expert divers, and remote operating vehicles (ROVs), going above and beyond regulatory requirements.
The proposed replacement pipeline has been tied up in the permitting process for years, and faces more years of litigation — Whitmer is fighting it, alongside the same “environmental” groups trying to shut down the original — and then more years to actually construct it if it’s eventually allowed.
The point here is not to get FWIW readers stirred up about Michigan’s coming disaster — that state’s voters put Whitmer into office, and probably deserve to get it, good and hard. But this kind of lunacy is occurring across the country; closing down existing pipelines and power plants, nuclear and gas, and banning new ones, barring construction of new electric transmission lines, with no replacements on the horizon. I’d call it lunacy to throw a state into the darkness and cold, except that I think that’s the exact goal of the leaders of this. Why?
