Two major lawsuits filed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Bad River Band of Lakes Superior Chippewa respectively, which seek to force Enbridge’s 70-year-old Line 5 pipeline off easements, are at critical stages in different federal appeals courts. Amicus briefs are expanding the arguments for and against the state’s and tribe’s interests and signal the intensification of the debate.
Nessel is a champion in the effort to shut down Enbridge’s 70-year-old deteriorating pipeline where it crosses the Straits of Mackinac. In 2019, she filed a lawsuit in state court. However, after a year of litigation at the state court level Enbridge sought to remove the case to federal court, where virtually no action occurred for more than a year. Nessel has sought action in federal appeals court to return this lawsuit to state court, where it belongs, and this effort is drawing broad support. Amicus filings by 63 Tribal and First Nations, 12 state attorneys general, the Great Lakes Business Network and For Love of Water have been filed in a federal court of appeals to support Michigan’s arguments.
By contrast, Canada has weighed in on behalf of Enbridge in federal litigation brought by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The Band is seeking to enforce the revocation of an easement across their tribal lands which expired in 2013. A federal district court judge has ordered this pipeline section be shut down no later than June 16, 2026. The Trudeau government is arguing that a 1977 pipeline treaty with the U.S. preempts the treaty rights which confirms the sovereignty of tribes in this region signed in the early 1800’s. Canada’s position puts the corporate interests of the world’s largest pipeline company above indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region who depend on clean water for their way of life.