Supreme Court rules for Michigan in its fight to shut down Line 5 pipeline
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with Michigan, ruling that the state's lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an aging pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will remain in state court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited too long to try to move the case on Line 5 to federal court.
"This case belongs in state court. This means that the Michigan Attorney General will be able to continue her case in state court," said Debbie Chizewer, managing attorney with Earthjustice. "Line 5 should be shut down because we can't risk an oil spill in the Great Lakes. There's too much at stake," said Chizewer.
But Enbridge disagrees. In a statement, the company says:
"Setting aside the procedural decision, the fact remains that the safety of Line 5 is regulated exclusively by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation. PHMSA conducts annual inspections and reviews of Line 5's operations across the Straits of Mackinac and has consistently found the pipeline to be in compliance, identifying no safety issues that would warrant its shutdown.
"As the Supreme Court recognized in its decision today, a federal court has already concluded that the Governor's efforts to shut down Line 5 were preempted by this federal regulatory scheme. In light of that ruling, the Attorney General's state-court case has been stayed by stipulation of the parties pending the outcome of the Governor's appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Enbridge is committed to the safe operation of Line 5 and to working constructively with regulators and stakeholders."
The 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, 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.
Enbridge moved the lawsuit into federal court in 2021, arguing it affects U.S. and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Jamo in June 2024, finding that the company missed a 30-day deadline to change its jurisdiction.
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 ruled that federal regulators, not the state, are responsible for Line 5 safety, and that they have found no issues warranting its shutdown.
Enbridge is also seeking permits to encase the pipeline section 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.
Enbridge also needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
Nessel said Wednesday's ruling "makes emphatically clear that our lawsuit against Enbridge belongs before the state court, where we've argued since 2019 that Line 5 does not have a legal right to the Straits bottomlands."
For tribal leaders, the concerns go far beyond infrastructure. Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, says the pipeline threatens treaty rights and the natural resources communities rely on every day.
"Line 5 is not just about an oil pipeline, it's really about our desire to continue to protect our way of life," said Gravelle. "It would destroy an entire way of life."
The pipeline is at the center of a separate 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 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 is also pending.