441-01770 (Environment)

Climate change is an undeniable reality. That’s why the Government of Canada introduced Canada’s most comprehensive climate plan, making historic investments to build job-creating clean energy projects, and implementing a price on pollution which returns all proceeds to Canadians while significantly cutting pollution across the country. More than ever, the Government is firmly committed to ensuring Canada’s energy and economic security, while taking important steps to fight climate change and protect the environment for future generations.

Canada has invoked the dispute settlement mechanism of the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty (the “Treaty”) twice concerning Line 5, first on October 4, 2021 on the pipeline segment in the Straits of Mackinac (Michigan), and again on August 29, 2022 on the pipeline segment on the Bad River Band Reservation (Wisconsin). This treaty ensures the uninterrupted transmission of hydrocarbons in transit—in the case of Line 5, light crude oil and natural gas liquids—from one place in Canada to another place in Canada, transiting through the United States.

Line 5 not only helps provide energy that is essential for empowering a resilient Canadian economy, it also supplies energy to business owners and residents in the Midwestern United States, including Wisconsin. Canada and the United States share a vision for a sustainable and inclusive economic growth that strengthens the middle class, creates more opportunities for them, and ensures people have good jobs and careers on both sides of the border. Both Canadians and Americans expect their governments to strengthen Canada-U.S. supply chain security and work to reinforce this deeply interconnected and mutually beneficial economic relationship.

The economic and energy disruption and damage to Canada and the U.S. from a Line 5 shutdown would be widespread and significant:

• Line 5 is a key west-to-east outlet for Alberta and Saskatchewan production of light crude oil and natural gas liquids.
• Line 5 supplies six refineries in Ontario and Quebec, including the refinery and petrochemical complex in Sarnia. In the U.S., Line 5 supplies four refineries in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. A 2021 third-party study of impacts in the U.S. Midwest indicated a shutdown would threaten more than 33,000 U.S. jobs and jeopardize US$20 billion in economic activity.
• Line 5 also supplies three propane production facilities, in Wisconsin, Michigan and Sarnia (Ontario), which supply critical rural and agricultural needs in the Great Lakes region, on both sides of the border.
• A Line 5 shutdown would also impact energy prices, such as propane for heating homes and the price of gas at the pump. As global market forces and inflation continue to hit Canadians, the Government must avoid putting additional pressure on the monthly budgets of Canadian families.
• Furthermore, such a closure would directly impact the energy security of both Canada and the United States. At a time of heightened concern over energy security and supply, including during the energy transition, maintaining and protecting existing infrastructure should be a top priority. Canada has raised these concerns with the U.S. on numerous occasions.

Canada is committed to the process of reconciliation and protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada, including as recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This includes respecting the rights of the Bad River Band, such as in relation to governance of its Reservation.

Alongside many U.S.-based local, state, and national organizations, Canada strongly supports the proposed replacement infrastructure solution, which would re-route Line 5 outside the Bad River Band Reservation and is currently undergoing state and federal permitting review.

In the case of the Line 5 segment in the Straits of Mackinac, Canada, along with many U.S.-based partners, supports the Great Lakes Tunnel Project. This solution, also undergoing state and federal permitting reviews, will replace the existing Line 5 segment in the Straits by placing it within a tunnel under the Straits.

These infrastructure solutions will keep Line 5 operating, further protect the environment including the iconic waters of the Great Lakes, meet critical energy needs in both Canada and the U.S. as we fight climate change and build net-zero economies, while responding to concerns expressed by Indigenous peoples, and fulfilling the Bad River Band’s desire to remove the pipeline segment from its Reservation.