The Michigan Legislature approved a resolution this week backing energy independence, and asking Governor Gretchen Whitmer to call off attempts to shut down the Line 5 dual pipelines. With gas prices surging amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, lawmakers who supported this resolution say domestic oil production should be a priority. But Sean McBrearty with the Oil and Water Don’t Mix Coalition says conversations about energy independence and security should focus on building renewables faster, rather than relying on more fossil fuel.
“We have to realize that the sooner we can get away from oil, and natural gas and other fossil fuels, the sooner we can get away from dictators like Vladimir Putin being able to leverage things like that in this sort of a war that he’s pursuing right now in Ukraine.”
The pipelines are operated by Enbridge Energy, a Canadian company pursuing building a tunnel around them, though environmental advocates and engineers have raised serious financial and safety concerns. Enbridge has said shutting down Line 5 would cause energy-market disruptions, though McBrearty points to multiple studies showing the pipelines could be closed without any price or supply disruption.
