The Canadian government has filed documents with the courts against the State of Michigan, which is threatening to shut down the Line 5 pipeline.

Calgary-based Enbridge has been in a long-running battle with Michigan over the cross-border pipeline for years due to concerns about the condition of the pipeline and its potential environmental dangers.

The pipeline is 67 years old and a 2017 report by the National Wildlife Federation showed Line 5 had spilled 1.1-million gallons of oil in 29 incidents since 1968.

Ottawa is asking that the U.S. courts intervene and prevent Michigan from forcing the shutdown of the pipeline.

The deadline proposed by Michigan’s governor to shut down production passed yesterday and it remains to be seen what action, if any, will be taken by the courts.

Federal Minister of Natural Resources, Seamus O’Regan, says he remains calm with the proceedings as there is no court order to shut down the pipeline, which would be required to halt production.

He says they filed the briefing to say that the Pipeline Transit Treaty from 1977 prevents any state or province from intervening if a pipeline starts in Canada and has to go through the U-S to reach another part of Canada.

O’Regan says if the pipeline were to shut down, it would be messy and expensive.

Shutting the pipeline down could result in gas shortages and price spikes. Thousands of 18-wheelers would be idling in the GTA and at the border crossing, polluting the air and losing profit according to O’Regan and says rail and ships would be required to get the pipeline back on track.

The pipeline delivers more than half of the crude oil used in Ontario and 66 per cent of what gets consumed in Quebec.