ANN ARBOR — According to Enbridge’s website, a Line 5 shutdown would put Ohio refineries at risk. The closure of one of those refineries could result in the loss of $5.4 billion in annual economic output to Ohio and southeast Michigan, and the loss of thousands of direct and contracted skilled trades jobs.

A Line 5 shutdown would compromise crude supply to 10 refineries in the region to varying degrees, directly affecting fuel prices. Enbridge said the information was provided by PBF Energy, which operates one of two refineries in Toledo. PBF Energy is one of the largest independent petroleum refiners and suppliers of unbranded transportation fuels, heating oil, petrochemical feedstocks, lubricants and other petroleum products in the United States.

However, filings in a lawsuit between Enbridge and the Bad River Band Tribe of Wisconsin released last week quote Enbridge’s Neil K. Earnest, independent energy industry consultant hired by the Canadian pipeline company, who said: “I estimate that a Line 5 shutdown will have a small impact on Michigan gasoline, jet fuel and diesel prices, likely less than one cent per gallon.”

The court filing contradicts recent predictions in an analysis for energy industry advocacy group Consumer Energy Alliance, which issued a report in February that predicted as much as a 9.47 to 11.66 percent spike in fuel prices, Sheri McWhirter reported on mlive.com on Wednesday. Four months ago, that would have been about 40 cents per gallon; at today’s prices it would be closer to 52 cents per gallon.

The National Wildlife Federation has been at the forefront of this issue, knowing that the pipeline running through the Straits of Mackinac is a disaster waiting to happen and a violation of sovereign tribal treaty rights, stated Anna Marie Zorn, in the Wednesday NWF article.

“My estimate of the increase in Wisconsin transportation fuel prices is the same as that for Michigan gasoline prices, i.e., approximately 0.5 cents per gallon,” Earnest wrote, states a June 8 press release from Fossil Free Media, a nonprofit media lab that supports the movement to end fossil fuels and address the climate emergency.

Enbridge’s Line 5, has run under the Straits of Mackinac for 69 years.

The company has spent millions to push misleading advertising and public statements. Shut down Line 5, it said, and gasoline prices in the state will skyrocket, said Fossil Free Media.

“Once again Enbridge has been caught misleading the public on Line 5, prioritizing their profit margins over Great Lakes water, wildlife, and our way of life.,” said Beth Wallace, Great Lakes freshwater campaigns manager for the NWF. “All should see clearly now, by their own expert’s admission, that Enbridge’s arguments and reality go together like oil and water. Greed and profiteering are at the center of Enbridge’s campaign to keep this 70-year-old pipeline running and not Michiganders’ best interests.”

Fossil Free Media stated that Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for Oil & Water Don’t Mix, commented, saying:

“What we suspected for years is true, and now we hear it through Enbridge’s own words in court: The products that travel through Line 5 have no effect on gasoline prices in Michigan. These court filings totally vindicate the responsible and courageous leadership of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who have worked tirelessly to protect our Great Lakes from a massive oil spill.”

Enbridge’s court filing isn’t the first time its own documents show how little Line 5 has to do with gasoline prices, Fossil Free Media said. The 2017 Dynamic Risk study, funded by Enbridge, showed decommissioning Line 5 would result in price impacts of roughly 2 cents per gallon on gasoline and approximately 5 cents per gallon on propane.

Line 5 runs from Canada, through Wisconsin and Michigan, before crossing back into Canada near Port Huron. Line 5 splits into two sections on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, where an oil spill would be catastrophic for the Great Lakes.

Fossil Free Media said it its release that Line 5 has spilled 33 times and at least 1.1 million gallons along its length since 1968. Enbridge’s Line 6B spilled 1.1 million gallons of tar sands bitumen into the Kalamazoo River in 2010, the largest inland spill in American history.

“Line 5 is located in the worst possible place for an oil spill in the Great Lakes, according to experts at the University of Michigan,” said Michelle Woodhouse, water program manager for Environmental Defence in Canada. “With its own words, Enbridge’s court document confirms a recent report the Environmental Defence commissioned that showed a price impact of 2 cents per liter at the pumps in Ontario when Line 5 shuts down. The biggest economic threat we face is the danger Line 5 poses to the Great Lakes ecosystem.”