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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Energy | Environment
The Michigan Court of Appeals has rejected a legal challenge from five Michigan tribes seeking to block Enbridge Energy’s plan to replace a segment of the Line 5 oil pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
The Feb. 19 ruling upheld the Michigan Public Service Commission’s (MPSC) Dec. 2023 approval of the project, which would replace dual pipelines on the lakebed with a pipeline housed in a concrete-lined tunnel. The tribes and environmental groups had argued the MPSC should have evaluated the public need for the entire 645-mile Line 5 pipeline rather than just the tunnel segment.
“We are disappointed, but not surprised by this decision,” Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle said in a statement. “We will continue to press forward in this fight. Line 5, tunnel or not, isn’t doing the U.S. any favors. This is a Canadian pipeline that benefits Canadian consumers, while putting U.S. residents and treaty-protected waterways at great risk.”
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi joined Bay Mills in the lawsuit. The tribes and environmental organizations argued that the Commission's environmental review failed to consider the pipeline's full impact or viable alternatives like barges, trucks, and rail transport.
Environmental nonprofit For Love Of Water argued the PSC violated the public trust doctrine, which requires the state to protect Great Lakes waters and bottomlands for public use.
“Line 5 is an outdated pipeline that threatens the Great Lakes and water resources throughout Michigan,” Earthjustice Senior Associate Attorney Adam Ratchenski said in a statement. “Regardless of today’s decision, it was backwards and dangerous for the Commission to approve this project without a true consideration of whether Michiganders need it. Nobody wants their water poisoned or their property values torpedoed in order to keep Canadian oil and gas flowing through the Great Lakes.”
The court found the MPSC “appropriately” limited its review to the tunnel project, rather than wider environmental considerations. The judges noted the current dual pipeline represents a “clear environmental threat” that justifies replacement.
While Wednesday’s decision clears part of the path forward for the Line 5 replacement, the project still needs approvals from Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Following President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration around energy on Jan. 20, the USACE is reportedly eyeing the project for a rush approval, per a story by Michigan news source Bridge Michigan.
Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy told Michigan Advance the court’s decision “affirmed” the MPSC’s work.
“As we proceed with this modernization project, we remain committed to operating Line 5 responsibly with enhanced safety measures in the Straits that protect Michigan’s natural resources and infrastructure in the Straits,” Duffy said.
Attorney David Gover of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) pledged to continue fighting the pipeline’s presence in the state.
“Millions of people today and those generations still to come depend on the clean waters and wildlife of the Great Lakes, and Line 5 is a major threat to their future,” Gover said in a statement. “We will continue to seek justice and need every voice in this fight to protect the Great Lakes.”
