Panel urged to move lawsuit to state court that seeks shutdown of part of aging pipeline in Michigan
won a restraining order from a state judge in June 2020. Enbridge moved the case into federal court in December 2021, a year and a half later. Nessel asked U.S.
Circuit Judge Janet Neff to shift the case back into state court but Neff refused, prompting Nessel to appeal to the 6th Circuit. Enbridge filed a separate federal lawsuit in 2020 arguing the state's attempt to shut down the pipeline interferes with federal regulation of pipeline safety and could encourage others to launch copycat actions and impede interstate and international petroleum trading. That case is still pending in Neff's court.
Enbridge has insisted the section of pipeline that runs beneath the straits is in good condition and could operate indefinitely. The company maintains that shutting the line down would constrict U.S. and Canadian oil and natural gas supplies, driving up costs.
Rather than shutting the pipeline, Enbridge has proposed encasing the pipes in a protective tunnel. Michigan's Public Service Commission approved the $500 million project in December despite intense opposition. Enbridge still needs approval from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. A final decision might not come until 2026. A federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin, last summer gave Enbridge three years to shut down part of Line 5 that runs across the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove about 12 miles (19 kilometers) of pipeline crossing its reservation, saying the pipeline is prone to spills and land agreements allowing it to operate on reservation land expired in 2013. The company has proposed rerouting the pipeline to end its dispute with the tribe. It has appealed the shutdown order to
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