Judge rules Enbridge pipeline case with Michigan be heard in U.S. federal court

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 16 (Reuters) – A lawsuit between Enbridge Inc. Remind the court.

Line 5 transports 540,000 barrels of raw and refined products daily from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, across the Strait of Mackinac in the Great Lakes.

Michigan had ordered the pipeline to be closed until last May amid fears that a section of underwater could leak into the Great Lakes, an order that Enbridge has ignored.

Last month, the Canadian government, which intervened in the court case in support of Enbridge, invoked a 1977 pipeline contract with the United States to initiate negotiations between Ottawa and Washington over the fate of the pipeline. Continue reading

Enbridge, of Calgary, Alberta, welcomed the decision of US District Judge Janet Neff in the Western District of Michigan.

“Enbridge is happy with the decision and agrees that this case should go to federal court, as we’ve been claiming all along,” Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy said in an email. “This is a matter of both federal and international law and the federal court will now take the case.”

Michigan is reviewing the decision and considering next steps, said Lynsey Mukomel, attorney general’s spokeswoman.

The decision to stand the case in federal court is a plus for Enbridge, who argues the state of Michigan has no power to close the pipeline, said Kristen van de Biezenbos, a law professor at the University of Calgary.

“Now that Canada is invoking the treaty, the fact that the problems go beyond Michigan state law is pretty clear,” said van de Biezenbos.

Reporting by Nia Williams; Additional coverage by Sebastien Malo in New York; Adaptation by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/judge-says-line-5-oil-pipeline-case-will-be-heard-federal-court-2021-11-16/