Governor Gretchen Whitmer is appealing a federal court decision in a lawsuit over the pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac.
Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline carries oil and gas from Wisconsin to Canada, passing through both Michigan peninsulas and the straits between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
State officials in Michigan have been trying for years to shut it down over claims that it was unsafe and that ship anchor strikes could lead to thousands of gallons of petroleum products leaking into the Great Lakes. A 2018 anchor strike dented parts of the decades-old pipeline.
In 2020, Governor Gretchen Whitmer tried to revoke the 1953 agreement that allowed its operation. The state claimed the deal was void from the beginning and accused Enbridge, the Canada-based company that operates the line, of breaching contract by not maintaining adequate safety standards.
Enbridge has vehemently denied that Line 5 is unsafe or posed any environmental threat. It sued the governor to block the state from shutting the pipeline down.
Last month, a federal district judge sided with Enbridge. In a ruling, Judge Robert Jonker of the Western District of Michigan found federal pipeline safety laws and U.S. foreign policy superseded Michigan’s concerns.
“For better or worse, the national government has unequivocally decided to displace state power in this area and assume exclusive responsibility for interstate pipeline safety,” he wrote.
The court refused to pause Enbridge’s federal case against the governor while a separate lawsuit by the state attorney general against Enbridge played out in a state court in Lansing. Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled arguments to decide whether that case belongs in state or federal court.
Whitmer’s notice of appeal in the federal case came a day after the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled a hearing for the state case.
The governor’s office declined to comment on the decision to appeal. The state Department of Natural Resources, a co-defendant, did as well, citing the pending litigation.
In a written statement, Enbridge repeated its reaction to the December federal court decision in its favor.
“Any dispute over its continued operation must be resolved through the 1977 Transit Treaty’s dispute resolution process, which Canada has already invoked. Today’s ruling makes clear that efforts by Michigan officials to permanently shut down Line 5 would interfere with U.S. foreign affairs — authority vested exclusively in the federal government,” Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said Wednesday while again sharing the company’s December 17 statement.
This would be the second time the federal case has gone before the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In April, the appellate court let the case continue after rejecting a constitutional challenge from the state.
As the fight over whether or not to shutdown Line 5 altogether plays out in the courts, the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is considering an application that would let Enbridge build a tunnel to house the pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, instead of its current placement on the lake bed.
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