Overview:

- Enbridge's lawsuit argues that Michigan's governor and the DNR hold no authority over pipeline safety.
- A statement of interest filed Friday by the Department of Justice makes a similar assertion.
- A spokesperson for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says her office does not agree with the Trump administration's legal arguments.

By KYLE DAVIDSON
Michigan Advance

The United States Department of Justice on Friday announced that it had filed a statement of interest in Enbridge Energy’s case against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 

Whitmer pledged to shut down the Canadian energy company’s Line 5 pipeline as part of her 2018 campaign for governor.

In 2020, she ordered the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to revoke Enbridge’s permit to operate Line 5 on the bottomlands of the Straits of Mackinac, arguing the company had repeatedly violated the terms of the easement and that its continued operation within the Great Lakes carried an “unacceptable risk” for a catastrophic oil spill. 

In response, Enbridge filed a suit arguing the governor and the DNR hold no authority over pipeline safety, and that the move to shut down the pipeline was in violation of the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty with Canada concerning the flow of oil and natural gas through pipelines across borders. 

Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division raised similar arguments in a statement released Friday.

MORE ON LINE 5

“The federal government already comprehensively regulates pipeline safety, but Michigan is trying to usurp the Department of Transportation’s statutory authority,” Gustafson said. “President Trump has made clear that the United States will not tolerate state overreach that interferes with American energy dominance.”

In response to a recent motion from Enbridge, attorneys for Whitmer and DNR Director Scott Bowen argued the decision to revoke the company’s easement did not fall under the scope of the federal Pipeline Safety Act and the state’s actions are within the limits of the treaty. 

“Our office does not agree with the legal arguments articulated in this amicus brief,” said Danny Wimmer, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Attorney General, which is representing Whitmer and Bowen in the case. 

The attorney general’s office will respond to the Department of Justice in further detail, Wimmer said, with the state’s response due by Oct. 10. 

Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said the company would “continue to protect and defend Line 5’s continued operations consistent with federal law, interstate commerce, and international treaty agreements,” reiterating the company’s argument about the Transit Pipelines Treaty.

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