Megan Wittman, megan.wittman@sierraclub.org
Michigan – Today, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an opinion and judgment to remand the case Nessel v. Enbridge back to Ingham County Circuit Court in Michigan. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit, Nessel v. Enbridge, was originally filed in 2019 in Michigan, but Enbridge successfully removed the case from state to federal court. Nessel filed a motion to bring the case back to state court, a move supported by over 60 Tribal Nations.
Line 5, a deteriorating 71-year-old pipeline, owned by Canadian oil company Enbridge, operates illegally through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation in northern Wisconsin and continues under the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan where the pipeline poses a devastating risk of rupture.
An oil spill from the pipeline in the Great Lakes threatens the drinking water of 40 million people across the United States and Canada.
Christy McGillivray, Legislative and Political Director for Sierra Club - Michigan released the following statement:
“This is another step towards enforcing the permanent shut down of Line 5. We appreciate Attorney General Nessel’s persistence in the fight to protect our waters from a catastrophic oil spill in the heart of the Great Lakes. Michiganders have every right to protect themselves from the most dangerous oil pipeline in America, and Attorney General Nessel is representing the will of the Michiganders she works for. It's past time Line 5 was shut down once and for all.”
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