"A unanimous Supreme Court ruling clears the way for state court proceedings in the decades-long dispute over the pipeline crossing between Lakes Michigan and Huron."
"Michigan’s decades-long fight to shut down the Line 5 pipeline will be heard in state court after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the dispute belongs there, clearing the way for judges to weigh whether the aging oil pipeline can continue crossing the Straits of Mackinac.
The ruling is seen as a win for tribes, environmentalists, and state Attorney General Dana Nessel, who preferred to keep the fight in state court. She has since 2019 been trying to revoke the easement that allows the pipeline to cross the Straits, which connect lakes Michigan and Huron, citing the risk of an oil spill.
“For far too long, following years of Enbridge’s delay tactics, the fear of a catastrophic spill from Line 5 has haunted our state, threatening to turn our most vital natural resource into a man-made disaster,” Nessel said in a statement.
The pipeline, owned by the Canadian company Enbridge Energy, transports crude oil and natural gas liquids 645 miles from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, a route that includes a critical 4.5-mile segment along the lakebed of the Straits."
