Michigan governor issues state of energy emergency ahead of holiday weekend

By Reuters

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder pauses as he speaks at North Western High School in Flint, a city struggling with the effects of lead-poisoned drinking water in Michigan

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of energy emergency on Tuesday because of ongoing problems with a major petroleum products pipeline combined with an unexpected outage at Marathon Petroleum Corp’s Detroit refinery.

The order was in response to an “unplanned” outage at the 106,000 barrels-per-day Detroit refinery along with the extended outage of the West Shore Pipeline, which carries products from Milwaukee to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and has been shut since March 10 for emergency repairs.

Under the order, which comes ahead of the busy U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, trucks hauling transportation fuel will be allowed to spend more hours on area roads to ensure fuels are available.

Energy industry intelligence service Genscape reported on Tuesday that the refinery had shut down a naphtha hydrotreater.

The company declined to comment on the report.

Marathon is expected to resume normal operations at the refinery within 48 hours, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker issued a similar emergency order because of a pipeline closure earlier this month.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Peter Cooney, G Crosse)