Enbridge Energy scored a key victory Wednesday after a federal court ruled the state of Michigan did not have the authority to stop its Line 5 pipeline from operating under the Straits of Mackinac.
Judge Robert Jonker of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan ruled that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2020 improperly revoked a 1953 easement for a four-mile stretch of the oil pipeline. Michigan officials cannot enforce the shutdown order, he said, which would have effectively stopped operation of the entire 645-mile pipeline.
The international conduit carries light crude and natural gas liquids from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario.
Jonker, a George W. Bush appointee, noted that Congress had preempted state safety regulation of interstate pipelines under the Pipeline Safety Act of 1992.
