(WWJ) The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in a long-running legal battle over the Line 5 pipeline, ruling the state’s lawsuit will remain in state court.
In a unanimous decision, the court said Enbridge Energy waited too long to move the case to federal court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the company missed a key deadline, thus allowing Michigan’s case to proceed at the state level.
The lawsuit, filed by Nessel in 2019, looks to shut down a section of the pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The pipeline has operated for more than 70 years and carries crude oil and natural gas liquids between Wisconsin and Ontario.
State leaders have raised concerns for years about the risk of a rupture in the underwater segment of the pipeline, especially after previous damage and problems with protective coating. Enbridge argues the pipeline is safe and that federal regulators — not the state of Michigan — are the ones with the authority over the pipeline and its operations.
The ruling is just the latest in a long series of legal battles over Line 5. Other cases involving the pipeline are still ongoing in federal and state courts.
