Expert testimony finds Line 5 shutdown would have negligible impact on gas prices

LANSING — The Michigan League of Conservation Voters today issued the following statement after expert findings in a lawsuit filed by the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians revealed significant flaws in Enbridge’s reasoning for keeping Line 5 open, including impacts to gas prices.

“When Enbridge’s own expert witnesses are debunking their false claims to support their argument for keeping Line 5 open, we know something is wrong,” said Bentley Johnson, Federal Government Affairs Director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “We know Enbridge has tried to deceive the public for years to keep oil flowing through our Great Lakes with false claims about price hikes and a lack of alternatives. This latest revelation, in an official court of law, reveals that Enbridge will say anything to protect its ticking time bomb in our most precious natural resource.”

The expert findings contained in the filings show that energy price increases in Michigan and Wisconsin likely would be less than one cent per gallon. In addition, they show that Enbridge consistently makes misleading, overstated, and exaggerated claims about alternatives to Line 5 — the experts show that rail and truck can combine to be viable alternatives and that there is more than enough capacity in our propane supplies and production without imported fuel from Enbridge.