Supreme Court to decide whether shutting down Michigan pipeline is a
state or federal fight
[July 01, 2025] By
TODD RICHMOND
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will
review whether Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's lawsuit seeking
to shut down a section of an aging pipeline beneath a Great Lakes
channel belongs in state court.
Nessel sued in state court in June 2019 seeking to void the easement
that allows the Enbridge energy company to operate a 4.5-mile
(6.4-kilometer) section of pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, which
link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
She won a restraining order shutting down the pipeline from Ingham
County Judge James Jamo in June 2020, although Enbridge was allowed to
continue operations after meeting safety requirements.
The company 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 Appeals sent the case back to Jamo in June 2024,
finding that Enbridge missed a 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions.
On Monday, the Supreme Court did not explain its rationale for taking up
the matter.
Enbridge officials said in a statement that they were encouraged by the
Supreme Court's choice, noting that exceptions to the 30-day deadline
exist.
Nessel spokesperson Kimberly Bush said the lawsuit belongs in a Michigan
court. The attorney general's lawyers have argued that the case invokes
the public trust doctrine, a concept in state law holding that natural
resources belong to the public.

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The corporate name stands out on tanks shown June 29, 2018 at at the
Superior terminal of Enbridge Energy in Superior, Wis. (AP Photo/Jim
Mone, File)
 The pipeline at issue, Line 5, has
moved crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin,
and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953. 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
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revoked the straits easement for
Line 5 in 2020. Enbridge has filed a separate federal lawsuit
challenging the revocation.
The company 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 Enbridge still needs approval from from the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great
Lakes and Energy.
The pipeline is at the center of a legal dispute in Wisconsin as
well. A federal judge in Madison last summer gave Enbridge three
years to shut down part of Line 5 that runs across the Bad River
Band of Lake Superior’s reservation. The company has proposed
rerouting the pipeline around the reservation and has appealed the
shutdown order to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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