The Supreme Court will not allow a federal court to decide whether Michigan improperly ordered the shutdown of an oil pipeline beneath the Great Lakes, handing a win to state officials and opponents of the project.
In a unanimous decision Wednesday led by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the high court rejected Enbridge Energy’s argument that it should be allowed to transfer a lawsuit related to Line 5 from state to federal court — even after the company missed a 30-day deadline to request to move the case.
Enbridge is challenging a 2020 order from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and the state Department of Natural Resources revoking an easement for the more than 70-year-old pipeline to cross 4 miles beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) initially defended the order in state court. Enbridge did not seek to remove the case until after briefs had been filed, and the case was argued before the court about two years later.
Nessel argued that Enbridge had ample opportunities to transfer the case and that the lawsuit belonged in state court because it was focused on issues of Michigan law.
But Enbridge claimed the suit should be before a federal bench in part because Whitmer’s order conflicted with a 1977 pipeline transit treaty between the United States and Canada, which bars state and local officials from halting the flow of hydrocarbons across the border.
Line 5 runs 645 miles between Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.
