The Biden administration is contemplating on shutting down a Michigan pipeline, a move that opponents fervently critized.
Line 5 of Oil Pipeline in Michigan
According to a recently published article in MSN News, the government has yet to make a decision on Line 5; authorities were collecting materials just to offer a complete picture of the issue. The Biden administration is also weighing in to shut down the pipeline.
Line 5 is part of a network that transports around 540,000 barrels per day of crude oil and other petroleum products from western Canada. In Escanaba, Michigan, petroleum is extracted from a pipeline. This is one of the major pipelines that are in need as winter nears.
Meanwhile, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's head of environmental policy, Jayson Haynes, slammed the Biden administration's energy policies, saying that their work on Line 5 is "just one more example of being divorced from reality," according to a report published in Red State Observer.
Biden Administration Receives Criticism
Even solar panels and wind turbines, according to Haynes, need the production of "oil, natural gas, nuclear, and even coal." He also said that the Biden government intends to use solar panels and wind turbines to power an industrial country.
As the country heads towards winter, Haynes painted a bleak image of what stopping Line 5 may entail for individuals who cannot obtain natural gas or the power it delivers. He said that shutting down Line 5 has the same effect as what occurred in Texas in February where people are shivering in their houses because of the cold, according to a report published in UP Jobs News.
Haynes said that the only countries that seem to understand the importance of reliable, affordable, dispatchable energy are China and Russia, explaining that he has trouble understanding why some Western leaders seem unable to grasp the importance of reliable, affordable energy and electricity for citizens.
Republican Lawmakers Chastise the Administration
Republican members in Congress have criticized the Biden administration's decision on shutting down Line 5, with more than a dozen sending a letter to Biden on Nov. 4 advising against such a move while gas prices have risen by 50 percent.
In fact, Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm warned that, regardless of the Biden administration's decision on the pipeline, heating costs would increase this winter. "This is definitely going to happen. This year's price will be higher than the previous year's," Granholm said.
Furthermore, as the country enters the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, wrote that the shutdown of Line 5 will undoubtedly exacerbate shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane at a time when Americans are already facing rapidly rising energy prices, steep home heating costs, global supply shortages, and skyrocketing gas prices.
It can be remembered that the Keystone XL project was blocked by the Biden administration in January, but the government has subsequently lifted sanctions on a pipeline that would transport Russian energy to Germany, thus authorizing the pipeline.
