The Perils of Line 5

In an embarrassing turn of events, legal action by an American state has cast Canada as an environmental villain, upsetting our holier-than-thou view of our southern neighbour.

The State of Michigan is attempting to shut down Line 5, an oil pipeline from Alberta to Central Canada. The Americans argue that the pipeline, which is seven decades old, and which runs beneath the waters of the Straits of Mackinac, would wreak environmental havoc on the Great Lakes region should it leak. Given that the same company’s lines have previously ruptured in Michigan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamazoo_River_oil_spill) , the argument is not without some merit.

The problem for Canada is far greater than the embarrassment of being shown up as an environmental pariah– it is a very serious economic concern. Fifty percent or more of the hydrocarbon needs of Ontario and Quebec comes through that line, and there aren’t enough tanker trucks and trains to make up the difference. Canada’s industrial heartland would be severely impacted not only by the reduction in fuel stock, but by the inevitable surge in fuel prices. In other words, this is very, very serious.

The Americans themselves have just been given a harsh lesson on the problems of over-reliance on pipelined petroleum. The Colonial Pipeline, carrying product from Texas to the US Northwest, was recently shut down by a ransomware attack, and is just now struggling to get back on its feet. Other than some raging at the Russians, nobody seems to have a plan to prevent recurrences.

So there we have, back to back, two undisputed examples of the existential reliance of our industrial heartlands on pipelines which have now been revealed as jugulars. And we don’t seem to have a viable Plan B.

Europeans may similarly be asking themselves about the wisdom of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2, pipelines running under the Baltic Sea to move natural gas from Russia to Europe. I’m sure you can detect at least two potential problems there.

Western civilization has relied far too long on these “all the eggs in one basket” industrial underpinnings. As long as we are mostly dependent on energy delivered over great distances, relying entirely on the good graces of others who really don’t care much about us and who have their own agendas, we are vulnerable. Really vulnerable.

So the next time you hear the boo-birds whining about moving our reliance away from fossil fuels, pipelines, and long-distance energy grids, ask them what they plan to do when all the lights go off and nobody’s furnaces work in January.

It’s time to get serious about local, renewable energy.