A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s attempt to shut down an aging oil pipeline that runs under a waterway that connects the Great Lakes, finding that only the federal government can regulate the safety of interstate pipelines.
Whitmer, a Democrat, ordered regulators in 2020 to revoke an easement that allowed Enbridge to operate a 4.5-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of the pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Whitmer made the move amid concerns that the 72-year-old pipeline could rupture and cause a catastrophic leak.
Enbridge filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the revocation and allow the pipeline to continue operating. President Donald Trump’s administration argued in filings this year that Whitmer’s order interfered with U.S. foreign energy policy and that only the federal government, not states, can regulate pipeline safety. The pipeline segment, known as Line 5, carries crude oil between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker wrote in the opinion that revoking the easement would effectively close Line 5. He found that Congress explicitly prohibited states from regulating interstate pipeline safety in the 1992 Pipeline Safety Act. He also noted that the United States and Canada agree that Michigan’s attempt to shut down the pipeline interferes with their federal foreign policy positions and trade relations.
“An oil spill in Michigan’s Great Lakes would undoubtedly be an environmental disaster. There is no question that the state of Michigan will bear nearly all of the resulting environmental damage,” Jonker wrote. “But for better or worse, the national government has made a clear decision to supplant state authority in this area and assume sole responsibility for interstate pipeline safety.”
A message seeking comment was left with a spokesman for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, whose office represents the Whitmer administration in the lawsuit. A Whitmer spokesperson referred questions to Nessel.
Enbridge issued a statement saying the line was safe and Jonker’s ruling could protect the United States and Canada from “significant energy disruptions.”
Line 5 faces multiple other legal challenges in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Nessel filed suit in 2019 seeking to revoke Channel’s easement. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing whether the case belongs in state or federal court. Numerous environmental groups and tribes have sued over state permits authorizing Enbridge’s plan to build a protective tunnel around a section of the channel. The case is before the Michigan Supreme Court.
In Wisconsin, a federal judge ruled in 2023 that Enbridge must dismantle a section of Line 5 that crosses the Badd River on the Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation. The company has proposed building a 41-mile (66-kilometer) route around the reservation, but tribes and environmentalists say construction could harm the environment and that the new route would still leave the area vulnerable to spills.
Bad River has filed suit in state court seeking to revoke the project’s state permit; that case is still pending. The tribe and some environmental groups are also challenging the permit through the state’s contested case process, which is similar to a lawsuit and ultimately will be decided by an administrative law judge.
The tribe filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permit authorizing the diversion.
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Associated Press writer Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.