White House says it's not considering Line 5 shutdown

The White House isn’t considering a shutdown of an oil pipeline between Canada and Michigan that the state’s governor wants shuttered, a spokeswoman said.

The White House pledged to discuss a key pipeline that carries Canadian crude through Michigan with the northern neighbor, stressing the U.S. isn’t considering a shutdown of the conduit the state’s governor wants shuttered. 

The Canadian and U.S. governments will “engage constructively” on the future of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 pipeline, the White House principle deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said at a briefing Tuesday.

“These negotiations and discussions between the two countries shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than that, and certainly not an indicator that the U.S. government is considering shutdown,” she said. “That is something that we’re not going to do.”

The comments helped clarify the position of the Biden administration in an escalating dispute between Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Biden ally, and Enbridge. Speculation the U.S. was considering a shutdown of the line that delivers propane and oil to the Midwest triggered strong criticism from Republicans at a time when energy prices are surging because of tight supplies. 

The line is also a key conduit of oil for refineries in Ontario and Quebec, a fact that has drawn the attention of Justin Trudeau’s government. Canadian officials have called the continued operation of the pipeline nonnegotiable, and Canada recently invoked provisions of a 1970s treaty to defend the line’s operation, elevating the dispute to an international level.  

President Joe Biden has taken a harder stance than his predecessor on oil pipelines, cancelling the controversial Keystone XL project, which would have helped ship Canadian crude to U.S. refineries, on his first day in office. But siding with Whitmer on shutting Line 5 could raise fuel prices in Michigan, a key electoral state, and would sour relations with Canada.