Michigan's decades-long fight over the Line 5 oil pipeline is heading back to state court after a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling, a major turn in one of the Great Lakes region's biggest environmental battles, according to PBS News.
State officials and tribal nations have long warned that Line 5 could become, in Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's words, "a man-made disaster" if a spill occurred. Such a spill could threaten drinking water, fisheries, wildlife, tourism, and local economies tied to the Great Lakes.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the legal dispute over Line 5 belongs in Michigan state court, not federal court, rejecting the requests of the Canadian pipeline company, Enbridge Energy, in its effort to keep the case in federal courts.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that Enbridge waited far too long before trying to shift the case to federal court and that the company's arguments were "not persuasive." Her fellow justices agreed.
As Grist reported, Michigan judges will now decide whether the aging pipeline can keep operating under the Straits of Mackinac, the waterway connecting Lakes Michigan and Huron.
But even before the state judges make a decision, environmental advocates, tribes, and even Nessel herself consider this decision a win. Andy Buschbaum, an attorney for the Great Lakes Business Network, which supported Attorney General Nessel in this effort, explained to Grist why this decision matters.
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Buschbaum stated that "the justices of the court, regardless of ideology, agreed that it's the state court that's the proper court to hear this dispute. We're finally in a position for the state court to actually decide whether Line 5 belongs on the bottom of the Great Lakes, or whether there are alternatives."
A spokesperson for the pipeline giant, Ryan Duffy, told reporters that safety regulators have not found any "safety issues that would warrant its shutdown." Notably, Line 5 has spilled 33 times, releasing well over 1.1 million gallons of oil into Great Lakes ecosystems.
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