Panel urged to move lawsuit to state court that seeks shutdown of part of aging pipeline in Michigan

Michigan attorneys have pressed a federal appellate panel in Cincinnati to move their lawsuit seeking to shut down a portion of an aging petroleum pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac from federal to state court. The attorneys argued Thursday before the three-judge panel that the state’s environmental protection laws justify the transfer. Assistant Attorney General Daniel Bock said the Line 5 pipeline is a matter of state interest because of its regulatory control of the straits. The Canadian pipeline's owner, Enbridge Inc., filed a separate federal lawsuit in 2020 arguing the state’s bid to shut down the pipeline interferes with federal regulation of pipeline safety and threatens to impede interstate and international petroleum trading.