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Michigan Politics

Company defies Gov. Whitmer's order to close pipeline

The company and its supporters say doing so would risk the same fuel disruptions experienced on the East Coast following a cyberattack against a pipeline there.

Credit: AP

FILE - In this October 2016, file photo, is an aboveground section of Enbridge's Line 5 at the Mackinaw City, Mich., pump station. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is threatening to go after Enbridge's profits from a Great Lakes oil pipeline if it isn't shut down. The Democratic governor issued the warning Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in a letter to Enbridge, a Canadian oil transport company. (AP Photo/John Flesher, File)

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The company that operates an Upper Midwestern oil pipeline is rejecting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's demand to close it.

Whitmer had set a Wednesday deadline to shut down Line 5, contending it risks a major oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac linking Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. But Enbridge says only the federal government has authority to order a shutdown.

The Canadian company and its supporters say doing so would risk the same fuel disruptions experienced on the East Coast following a cyberattack against a pipeline there. Opponents say the two situations are different and accuse Enbridge of flouting the law.

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