In a win for opponents of Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline, the Michigan Supreme Court vacated a key permit last week for a proposed project that would replace a segment of the pipeline running underneath an environmentally-sensitive area of the Great Lakes, finding that a state commission did not examine the full scope of possible harm to the environment.
Following the 6-1 decision, the justices remanded the permit back to the Michigan Public Service Commission for a more thorough review, which likely extends the timeline for a decision on a project that’s already been mired in legal and procedural hurdles for years.
Enbridge Energy received the permit in 2023 for its proposal to replace a segment of the oil and natural gas liquids pipeline — which connects lakes Michigan and Huron via the Straits of Mackinac — with a new one encased in a tunnel buried in the lakebed. Environmental groups and tribal nations appealed the decision, landing the case before the state’s highest court this year.
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