Enbridge last week refused to comply with an order that it shut down a four-mile section of its Line 5 pipeline, prompting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to threaten to seize the company’s profits as the Canadian government asked that operations continue during negotiations with the Biden administration.

The showdown also prompted arguments during budget deliberations in Michigan’s legislature.

Whitmer in November ordered the section of the 645-mile pipeline running under the Mackinac Straits shut down by May 12 to prevent a leak from polluting the Great Lakes. Her administration had issued permits for Enbridge to build a tunnel under the straits to carry a new pipeline section, but she has been adamant that the current pipeline must be shut down. (See Court Proceedings, Treaty Could Keep Mich. Pipeline Open.)

Line 5 carries the equivalent of 540,000 barrels of oil and gas products through the pipeline from Wisconsin to Ontario.

In an interview with Axios news, Whitmer said state governments should have the authority to determine where pipelines are located in their states. She said 18 other governors have joined in her that claim.

Canadian officials have said Whitmer’s order would violate its 1977 treaty with the U.S., which prohibits any government within the two nations from blocking an international pipeline.

Enbridge Defiant

Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said last week the pipeline would continue to run unless ordered to stop by a court.

Enbridge sued the state in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids shortly after Whitmer issued her order last November.  The presiding judge in the case has ordered mediation in the matter, with the next mediation session scheduled for Tuesday, May 18.

Whitmer responded on Tuesday that Enbridge could be declared a trespasser because she revoked the company’s easement for the straits.

“Enbridge’s continued occupation of the state-owned bottomlands in the absence of a valid and effective easement constitutes an intentional trespass,” she wrote in a letter to Enbridge executives. “In addition, to the extent that Enbridge benefits financially from that use and operation after May 12, 2021, it will be liable for unjust enrichment, which will require disgorgement to the state of all profits derived from its wrongful use of the state’s property.”

On the same day, members of the United Steelworkers Union placed more than 1,000 hardhats on the Michigan Capitol grounds, saying it represented the jobs which could be lost if the pipeline is shut down. Whitmer got heavy labor support for her 2018 election victory.

Canadian Government Joins the Fray

Meanwhile, the Canadian government filed an amicus brief with the federal court calling on any order shutting down the pipeline to be suspended while it seeks a resolution with the Biden administration under the 1977 treaty.

Last month, in an interview with NetZero Insider, Canada’s consul general to Detroit said he expected Enbridge’s tunnel would be built before the court proceedings are resolved.

Republicans who control Michigan’s Senate on Wednesday passed an amendment to the state’s proposed Department of Natural Resources budget requiring the department to reimburse Enbridge if the state loses the pipeline litigation. Sen. Ed McBroom (R), sponsor of the amendment, said Michigan’s taxpayers couldn’t afford to foot a “freebie” if the state loses a “foolish and ill-advised” legal action.