The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Apr. 22 that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit against Enbridge regarding the Line 5 pipeline must be heard in state court, not federal court.
The decision is significant because it determines where the long-running legal battle over the future of the Line 5 dual pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac will continue. The ruling ends a years-long dispute over jurisdiction and could affect how similar cases are handled nationwide.
Attorney General Nessel originally filed suit in state court in 2019, seeking to shut down Line 5 by arguing that its easement violated both the Public Trust Doctrine and Michigan environmental law, and constituted a public nuisance. Enbridge moved to transfer the case to federal court more than two years after litigation began, but today’s unanimous opinion found this move was made well beyond the required thirty-day deadline for removal.
“This unanimous ruling from the United States Supreme Court makes emphatically clear that our lawsuit against Enbridge belongs before the state court, where we’ve argued since 2019 that Line 5 does not have a legal right to the Straits bottomlands,” said Attorney General Nessel. “For far too long, following years of Enbridge’s delay tactics, the fear of a catastrophic spill from Line 5 has haunted our state, threatening to turn our most vital natural resource into a man-made disaster. I will continue to defend Michigan residents and our environment with every tool at our disposal to ensure our Great Lakes are safe for generations to come.”
Currently, proceedings in Attorney General Nessel’s lawsuit are paused by order of Ingham County’s Circuit Court until an appeal involving Governor Whitmer and Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources Director is resolved by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The litigation between Nessel and Enbridge will resume once that separate appeal concludes.
The broader impact of this decision could shape how states challenge energy infrastructure projects within their borders going forward.