Canada’s natural resources minister says he is hearing “significant sympathy” from U.S. officials for the plight of the Line 5 pipeline.
Jonathan Wilkinson is in Washington, D.C., for meetings with lawmakers, Biden administration officials and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Wilkinson says that while Canada is focused on keeping the cross-border pipeline operating, the government is also exploring contingency plans in the event a court orders it shut down.
The state of Michigan wants Line 5 permanently shuttered for fear of an environmental disaster in the Straits of Mackinac, where the pipeline crosses the Great Lakes.
Wilkinson also says Canada won’t be intervening in a separate court case in Wisconsin, where an Indigenous group is also trying to shut down the line, which is run by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.
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