Tribes and environmental groups are appealing a Michigan state court ruling earlier this year that helped to advance a project to replace part of the Line 5 oil pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
On Wednesday, the Bay Mills Indian Community and others asked the Michigan Supreme Court to reconsider whether state regulators needed to do more analysis of Enbridge’s plan to run a roughly 4-mile pipeline segment in the straits through a planned cement-lined tunnel. The state Supreme Court has discretion to decide whether to accept an appeal application, and only a small percentage are granted each year.
If the appeal is accepted, the challengers are asking the state Supreme Court to reverse the February ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals and toss out the Michigan Public Service Commission’s 2023 final order approving the Great Lakes Tunnel project.
The tunnel threatens to greatly extend the life span of the aging 645-mile oil conduit, the Bay Mills Indian Community and other opponents warned.
