Mackinac Bridge
To cut through Michigan, Line 5 had to cross the Straits of Mackinac, which run between Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas. It’s an environmentally sensitive point in one of the greatest reservoirs of fresh water on the planet. The pipeline temporarily splits into two parallel pipes that run across the bottom of the strait, completely exposed, where they’ve been gashed and dented by anchors.
Who knew that after almost 70 years this would seem like a problem?
Fast forward to last year: The governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer – the politician Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently called brain dead, who also happened to be co-chair of U.S. President Joe Biden’s campaign committee – revoked the easement grated in 1953 allowing the crossing. She argued the line presented an oil spill risk, which history suggests is a legitimate concern.
Here in Alberta, Premier Kenney has even used Enbridge’s problems with Michigan to prop up his baseless conspiracy theory about Americans trying to landlock Alberta oil.
Well, the chickens are coming home to roost. The guy now in the White House isn’t likely to be very sympathetic. A lot of shaggy Canadian pandemic haircuts are in flames.