Federal judge blocks Whitmer from shutting down submerged Great Lakes pipeline

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ‘s attempt to shut down an aging oil pipeline running beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, finding that only the federal government can regulate interstate pipeline safety.

Whitmer, a Democrat, ordered regulators in 2020 to revoke an easement that allows Enbridge Inc. to operate a 4.5-mile (6.4) kilometer pipeline segment under the Straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Whitmer made the move out of concern that the 72-year-old pipeline could rupture and cause a catastrophic spill.

Enbridge filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the revocation and the pipeline continues to operate. President Donald Trump’s administration argued in filings this year that Whitmer’s order interferes with U.S. foreign energy policy and that only the federal government, not the states, can regulate pipeline safety. The pipeline segment, known as Line 5, moves crude oil between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker wrote in an opinion that revoking the easement would effectively shut down Line 5. He found that Congress expressly prohibited states from regulating interstate pipeline safety in the Pipeline Safety Act of 1992. 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 catastrophe. And Michigan would undoubtedly be the recipient of almost all the environmental damage that would result,” Jonker wrote. “But for better or worse, the national government has unequivocally decided to displace state power in this area and assume exclusive responsibility for interstate pipeline safety.”

A message seeking comment was left for a spokesperson for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, whose office represented Whitmer’s administration in the lawsuit.

Enbridge issued a statement saying the line is safe and that Jonker’s ruling protects both the United States and Canada from “significant energy disruptions.”

Multiple other legal challenges are swirling around Line 5 in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Nessel filed her own action in 2019 seeking to void the easement in the straits. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing whether that case belongs in state or federal court. And a number of environmental groups and tribes have sued challenging state permits authorizing Enbridge’s plan to build a protective tunnel around the straits segment. That case is pending before the Michigan state Supreme Court.

In Wisconsin, a federal judge ruled in 2023 that Enbridge must remove a section of Line 5 that runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation. The company has proposed a 41-mile (66-kilometer) route around the reservation, but the tribe and environmentalists say construction could harm the environment and the new route would still leave the region vulnerable to a spill.

The Bad River has sued in state court seeking to void state permits for the project; that case is still pending. The tribe along with a number of environmental groups also is challenging the permits through the state’s contested case process, a proceeding similar to a lawsuit that will culminate with an administrative law judge’s ruling.

The tribe filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., challenging U.S. Army Corps of Engineer permits authorizing the reroute.

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Associated Press writer Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.