Shutting down Line 5 would be devastating says Banff-Airdrie MP

The potential closure of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline could have disastrous effects for consumers and those in the oil and gas sector according to Airdrie's MP.

The Line 5 Pipeline, owned by Calgary based Enbridge, currently supplies oil from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario. Last November, It was ordered to shut down by May 12 at the request of the governor of the State of Michigan.

The pipeline has in place since 1953 and has faced numerous challenges to have it closed by environmental groups claiming it can be harmful to the Great Lakes if any part of the infrastructure is ruptured.

Despite these concerns and challenges, many proponents of the pipeline including Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards said shutting it down would be devastating.

"There's a lot of jobs, potentially, at risk here. There's certainly is potential for significant gas shortages and prices of fuel and home heating could well skyrocket."

Richards added it would also affect several industries including agriculture and likely drive the price of some consumer goods up.

The federal Conservatives are now asking for the government to enact the Transit Pipelines Treaty from 1977. That agreement allows for the uninterrupted flow of petroleum products in pipelines that link Canada and the U.S.

Richards has started an online petition to allow those in his riding to push the government to save the pipeline.

While many are asking for the pipeline to close for environmental and climate change reasons, Richards believes it might have the opposite effect.

"There would need to be a need for truck and rail delivery of a lot of these products. Here are people advocating for a pipeline to be closed who think they're helping the environment, what they would be doing is putting it at greater risk. It just makes no sense where we are at here."

The federal government recently asked the U.S. District Court to stop Michigan from shutting down the pipeline saying it is essential to the country's energy security.

"The Government of Canada has continuously advocated for and raised the importance of Line 5," said Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan in a statement. "We've worked in close collaboration with provinces, industry and labour and have raised Line 5 directly with the U.S. Administration. It has been - and continues to be - a Team Canada approach. Line 5 does not just affect one province or one region, it supports our entire country."