Enbridge Inc. moved to shift to federal court a Michigan lawsuit seeking to shut down an oil pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac linking lakes Michigan and Huron.
It's the latest bit of legal wrangling in a dispute between the state and the company.
The company argued that a 2019 lawsuit filed in a state court by Attorney General Dana Nessel should be heard by a U.S. District Judge.
Nessel released the following statement on Enbridge filing.:
“This is an outrageous maneuver by Enbridge that flies in the face of federal law, which clearly establishes the process to remove a suit must be initiated within 30 days. We will address this flagrant attempt to undermine that process in court and remain fervently committed to our belief that the fate of Michigan’s greatest natural resources should be determined in a Michigan court. Our residents deserve more than a company who seeks to profit from our natural resources while at the same time attempting to evade legal review of their actions by our state’s courts.”
Line 5 ships 540,000 barrel per day of crude and refined products from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, via Michigan.
A section of the pipeline runs underwater through the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes and environmentalists are concerned about the risk of an oil leak.
