Michigan AG Nessel rallies in Ohio ahead of Line 5 pipeline federal court hearing
CINCINNATI, Ohio, (WPBN/WGTU) -- Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel will be in Ohio Thursday speaking at a rally to make her case against Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline.
A federal appeals court will hear arguments Thursday.
It's regarding the future of the pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.
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Nessel filed a lawsuit to shut down and decommission the oil pipeline in 2019.
Enbridge successfully removed that case from state court to federal court.
Nessel filed a motion to move the case back to state court, which was supported by more than 60 tribal nations.
After Nessel speaks at the rally in Cincinnati, her office will deliver arguments to urge a court of appeals to move the lawsuit to state court.
An Enbridge representative is responding to the news saying:
We are confident that ultimately the Sixth Circuit Court will agree with the lower court’s decisions from August 2022 and November 2021 that this dispute—which has generated a US foreign policy controversy—properly belongs in federal court.
The district court properly found exceptional circumstances warranting this case being heard in federal court. First, the dispute raises important foreign affairs issues that are embedded in the Attorney General’s action and that properly belong in federal court. The August 2022 decision states, “Considering the motion in the proper context and totality, the Court again points to the important federal interests at stake in having this dispute heard in federal court.”
Also, as the district court explained, the Attorney General was setting up a forum battle between federal and state courts. The Court said that it “...will not accept the State’s invitation to undermine its previous decision and perpetuate a forum battle.”
In her appeal, the Attorney General continues to seek to undermine these considerations and promote gamesmanship and forum shopping, while ignoring the substantial federal issues that are properly decided in federal court and not state court. Not surprisingly, Enbridge’s case has been supported by several different amici groups including organized labor, business, and energy.
This appeal has no effect on the summary judgment issues presented in Enbridge v. Whitmer case, which remains pending in federal court.
Enbridge remains focused on building the Great Lakes Tunnel which will make a safe pipeline safer and protect the waters of the Great Lakes, the environment, and people while assuring long term energy security and reliability and supporting Michigan jobs and the economy.
As we proceed with this modernization project, Enbridge also is investing in renewables, developing cleaner oil and natural gas solutions, and transporting and delivering these energy resources safely and sustainably.