Michigan Supreme Court hears challenge to Line 5 tunnel project
The battle for Line 5 rages on as the Michigan Supreme Court hears arguments for two cases that could decide the future of the pipeline that runs underneath the Straits of Mackinac.
"We do not need its product. We do not need Enbridge. In fact, what we do need is the water of the Great Lakes, and it's something that we all rely upon," said Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community.
Filed by a Native American tribe and a statewide environmental group, two separate lawsuits look to block Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership from putting a section of the pipeline inside a tunnel under the waterway that links Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
"Whether it's affecting, you know, a single fish or an entire population of fish, I mean, it makes a difference, right? Not only in the scope and breadth of the effect, but also then it impacts what the alternatives are," said Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Megan Cavanagh.
Originally approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and For Love of Water say the move would create a major risk to the lifelong purity of the lakes.
"We believe that when that hard look at these permits is taken, that it will be common sense to deny the wetlands permit," said Denise Keele, executive director of Michigan Climate Action Network.
Attorneys for Enbridge say the permits would give the company the ability to make an already successful pipeline even safer.
"There's no scenario that gets the pipes out of the water, and everyone, including the other side of this case, agrees that the pipes and the Great Lakes ecosystem are better off if they're in the protected tunnel," said attorney John J. Bursch.
This comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's Line 5 lawsuit should stay in state court or move to federal court and whether Enbridge missed the 30‑day deadline to make that switch.
Rulings on the cases are expected in the coming months.