Late last Friday, huge news broke on Line 5. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tribes and environmental advocates to send the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) permit back to the drawing board. In a landmark 6-1 decision, the court reaffirmed the state’s public trust obligation to “to protect and preserve the waters of the Great Lakes and the lands beneath them for the public. The state serves, in effect, as the trustee of public rights in the Great Lakes for fishing, hunting, and boating for commerce or pleasure.”

Plus, the decision underscored the vital importance and application of the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA), resoundingly proving that both cornerstone environmental foundations are alive and well in Michigan.

The decision means that Enbridge cannot begin construction on the Line 5 tunnel and leaves the recent permit issued by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy stranded without a paddle.

This would not have happened without dedicated leadership from Michigan’s Tribal nations and environmental advocates like FLOW Water Advocates, Michigan Climate Action Network, and Environmental Law & Policy Center, who argued passionately before the Michigan Supreme Court. Now advocates turn to the state’s leaders for swift leadership to shutdown Line 5 and remove the aging dual pipelines from the Straits of Mackinac once and for all.

Groundwork released the following statement

Michigan Supreme Court Rules Against Line 5 Tunnel Permit

Traverse City, MI – Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities applauds the Michigan Supreme Court ruling that rejects the Michigan Public Service Commission’s approval of the Line 5 tunnel permit. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the MPSC failed to follow state law under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) and the common law public trust doctrine when it approved Enbridge Energy’s permit for an oil tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac. Now the agency must re-do this decision including assessing the broad scope of environmental and human harm of the proposed oil tunnel and look deeply into reasonable alternatives for transporting the oil. The ruling is a decisive victory for tribal nations, Michigan families, and the globally rare Great Lakes ecosystem. 

The ruling stems from legally sound, sharply reasoned, and passionately argued appeals brought by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, alongside environmental groups including the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Michigan Climate Action Network, and FLOW Water Advocates. Together, they argued that the MPSC’s review under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) was far too narrow, that obligations under the public trust doctrine had been ignored, and that evidence showed the agency failed to adequately assess alternatives to Line 5, as required by law. 

The ruling confirms what advocates have long argued: That the MPSC did not legitimately consider the risks posed by the 73-year-old pipeline on the Great Lakes, our climate, and our communities, nor did the decision do as the law requires and rationally evaluate alternatives.

“This is a landmark decision reaffirming the state’s environmental and public trust duty to preserve and protect the shared waters of the Great Lakes,” said Ashley Rudzinski, Climate & Environment Program Director of Groundwork Center. “We are grateful that the court followed the letter of the law in this decision and accurately weighed the grave risk this project poses to millions of people across our region.”

“No single agency has looked at the full scope of this project or the impact of drilling and blasting directly in the same corridor as an operating oil pipeline, which is what Enbridge has proposed to do,” Rudzinski continued. “The highest court of our state has said this permit fails in so many ways—the full scope of environmental harm must be considered, and reasonable and prudent alternatives must be considered.”

“Now that the MPSC permit heads back to the drawing board, we must stop spinning our wheels on this boondoggle and start the real work of shutting down the existing 73-year-old dual pipelines,” said Rudzinski. “Line 5 is decrepit oil infrastructure in a very dangerous place. That has always been the core problem and the oil tunnel is merely a distraction and false solution.” 

Ashley Rudzinski is Groundwork’s Climate & Environment Program Director
ashley.rudzinski@groundworkcenter.org