Supreme Court rules for Michigan in its fight to shut down an aging energy pipeline
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court He sided with Michigan in the decision Wednesday the state’s case The lawsuit, which seeks to shut down a section of an aging pipeline beneath the Great Lakes canal, will remain in state court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote: a unanimous court Enbridge said the energy company waited too long to take the case to federal court.
The case is part of a complex legal dispute over a pipeline that has transported crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit in state court in June 2019 seeking to invalidate the easement that allows Enbridge to operate the 4.5-mile (6.4-kilometer) pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Democrat Nessel won a restraining order The pipeline was shut down by Ingham County Judge James Jamo in June 2020, but Enbridge was allowed to continue operations after meeting safety requirements.
Enbridge took the case to federal court in 2021, arguing it affected U.S. and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals I sent the case back to Jamo In June 2024, it found that the company had missed a 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions.
The name of the pipeline in question was Line 5. Concerns have been growing about the section below the strait rupturing, causing a catastrophic leak, since 2017, when Enbridge engineers disclosed that they had knowledge of gaps in the section’s protective lining since 2014. In 2018, a boat anchor damaged the section, raising fears of leaks.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, revoked the strait easement for Line 5 in 2020. Enbridge filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the cancellation.
Enbridge won a federal judge’s ruling blocking the move, but Democrat Whitmer appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In March, the Supreme Court rejected Whitmer’s appeal, arguing that she could not be sued in federal court.
It was unclear how the federal order blocking Whitmer’s repeal attempt would affect Nessel’s case in state court. The judge in the Whitmer case ruled that federal regulators, not the state, were responsible for the safety of Line 5, and found no problems that would warrant shutting down the line, the company said in a statement.
Enbridge is also seeking permission to cover the portion of the pipeline below the straits with a protective tunnel. The Michigan Public Service Commission issued the relevant permits in 2023, but a coalition of environmental groups and Michigan tribes filed a lawsuit to invalidate state permits for the tunnel. The state Supreme Court is considering the case.
Enbridge needs it too Approval from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
The pipeline is also at the center of a separate legal dispute in Wisconsin. Last summer, a federal judge in Madison ruled that Enbridge: Three years to close part of Line 5 The region along the Bad River Band of Lake Superior. The company appealed the closure to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals but began working in February to reroute the line around the reservation.
Bad River and environmental groups have filed a state lawsuit seeking to halt the work, arguing regulators underestimated the damage the rerouting construction would cause. This case continues.
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Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report from Madison, Wisconsin.
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