A Michigan court is not giving any hints on how it may rule in a challenge to the state’s approval of a new tunnel to house an oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.
During a Tuesday hearing, no member of a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals asked questions about the state’s permit for Enbridge to construct the Great Lakes Tunnel for its Line 5 oil pipeline, leaving it unclear whether tribal nations and environmental groups were likely to convince the bench to require further analysis of the project.
“If you didn’t hear a lot of questions, you all filed very extensive and excellent briefs,” said Judge Michael Kelly at the conclusion of the hearing. Judges Anica Letica and Randy Wallace also heard oral arguments in the case.
Adam Ratchenski, senior associate attorney at Earthjustice, made the case Tuesday that tribes intervening in the Michigan Public Service Commission’s proceedings, including the Bay Mills Indian Community, were improperly barred from offering evidence about the risk of spills from Line 5 and public need for petroleum products carried by the pipeline.