The Trump administration is calling on a federal judge to freeze his order requiring the shutdown of part of Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline through a reservation in Wisconsin.
The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division warned this week that halting operation of the oil conduit in part of the Bad River Band Reservation by a court-ordered June 16 deadline would threaten the United States’ interests, because there is no alternative means to transport crude currently carried by the pipeline.
“If the Line 5 pipeline is shut down in June, America’s energy supply chain would be disrupted and Americans would see increased costs,” said ENRD Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson in a statement accompanying the Tuesday filing in federal court in Wisconsin. “The Seventh Circuit is considering the case, and the district court should not impose drastic actions in this matter while the case is on appeal.”
The filing is the latest example of the federal government backing Enbridge’s efforts to keep its 645-mile pipeline between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, operational. DOJ filed a similar statement in litigation challenging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) efforts to shutter the pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
