A legal battle over the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac will continue in Michigan state court. Additionally, Congressman David Scott passed away at 80, and the Supreme Court has allowed a wounded veteran's lawsuit against a contractor to proceed.
seeking to shut down a section of an aging pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will stay in state court. Rep. David Scott , a Georgia Democrat seeking his 13th term in Congress, dies at age 80 Supreme Court revives wounded veteran’s lawsuit against a contractor over suicide bombingThe case is part of a messy legal dispute about a pipeline that has moved crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sued in state court in June 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Enbridge to operate a 4.5-mile section of pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel, a Democrat, wonshutting down the pipeline from Ingham County Judge James Jamo in June 2020, although Enbridge was allowed to continue operations after meeting safety requirements.
Enbridge moved the lawsuit into federal court in 2021, arguing it affects U.S. and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of AppealsThe pipeline at issue is called Line 5. Concerns over the section beneath the straits rupturing and causing a catastrophic spill have been growing since 2017, when Enbridge engineers revealed they had known about gaps in the section’s protective coating since 2014.
A boat anchor damaged the section in 2018, intensifying fears of a spill. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revoked the straits easement for Line 5 in 2020. Enbridge filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the revocation.
Enbridge won a ruling from a federal judge blocking the move, but Whitmer, a Democrat, has appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In March, the Supreme Court rejected Whitmer’s appeal claiming that she couldn’t be sued in federal court. It was unclear how the federal ruling blocking Whitmer’s revocation attempt would affect Nessel’s case in state court.
The company said in a statement that the judge in the Whitmer case has already decided federal regulators, not the state, are responsible for Line 5 safety and they have found no issues that would warrant shutting it down. Enbridge also is seeking permits to encase the section of pipeline beneath the straits in a protective tunnel.
The Michigan Public Service Commission granted the relevant permits in 2023, but a coalition of environmental groups and Michigan tribes has filed a lawsuit seeking to void state permits for the tunnel. The state Supreme Court is weighing that case. The pipeline is at the center of a separate legal dispute in Wisconsin as well. A federal judge in Madison last summer gave Enbridgethat runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation.
The company has appealed the shutdown order to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but it started work in February to reroute the line around the reservation. The Bad River and environmental groups have filed a state lawsuit seeking to halt the work, arguing regulators have underestimated the damage the reroute construction will cause. That case also is pending.
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Line 5 Pipeline Michigan Supreme Court David Scott Legal Dispute
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