The future of a controversial oil and natural gas liquids pipeline that cuts a path through the Straits of Mackinac was argued Wednesday before the Michigan Supreme Court. A tribe and an environmental group say the state never did a proper assessment of whether a plan by Enbridge Energy to continue operating Line 5 sufficiently protects the Great Lakes from an oil spill.
The plaintiffs are the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the organization For Love of Water (FLOW). In separate cases heard in back-to-back hearings by the Supreme Court, they argued the state has never fully analyzed the risks posed by the portion of the more than 70-year-old pipeline located in the Straits of Mackinac, a waterway located between Michigan’s two peninsulas that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
FLOW attorney Riyaz Kanji said the state has an obligation under the public trust doctrine to go further than it has in ensuring that the Great Lakes are protected from the threats posed by the pipeline.
“So what we want is to get to judgement on them, but the solution is not to go and rush judgement on this whole new project that Enbridge wants to engage in without adequate attention to the safety of that proposal,” he told Michigan Public Radio following the hearing.
But Enbridge attorney John Bursch said that is not the issue before the court. Bursch said Line 5 is already in the straits and the choice is between the status quo or making the pipeline safer by encasing it in a tunnel.
“Our interest is to get the project started tomorrow if we can,” he told Michigan Public Radio. “We would have loved to have started it five years ago if we could, but all the environmental groups who are supposedly trying to protect the environment are doing everything they can to stop the pro-environment option from happening.”
This is one of multiple cases in the courts on what should happen with Line 5. The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision later this year.
Editor's note: Enbridge is among Michigan Public's corporate sponsors.
