THE SUN SETS May 31 over the Mackinac Bridge that spans the Straits of Mackinac. (Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance photo)

The Michigan Department of the Attorney General announced Friday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit would review arguments on whether Attorney General Dana Nessel’s case to shut down Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 pipeline should be heard in federal or state court.

Nessel initially sued Enbridge in state court in 2019, litigating the case for more than a year. The state court ordered Enbridge to shut down its Line 5 pipelines for several weeks in the summer of 2020 in order to ensure their safety.

Line 5 runs for 645 miles from northwest Wisconsin into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, underwater through the Straits of Mackinac, through the Lower Peninsula to Sarnia, Canada. It transports about 23 million gallons of crude oil and liquid natural gas daily.

According to the Department of the Attorney General, Nessel and Enbridge both filed motions asking the state court to decide the case. However, Enbridge filed a motion to have the case moved to federal court, with Federal Judge Janet Neff ultimately ruling the case would be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

While Neff denied Nessel’s motion to remand the case back to state court, Nessel appealed the decision and requested Neff certify the case for interlocutory appeal, which will allow the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to review whether the case belongs in state or federal court before it is fully litigated in federal court. Neff granted Nessel’s request in February.

Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks March 15. (Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance photo)

Now that the case will be heard by the Sixth Circuit Court, both parties will file briefs and argue before a panel of judges at a date to be determined. The Sixth Circuit Court will then determine whether the case will be sent back to state court, or proceed in federal court.

“As Michigan’s top law enforcement official, I brought this case forward on behalf of the People of Michigan to protect Michigan’s Great Lakes,” Nessel said in a statement.

“It is a Michigan case that belongs in a Michigan court. … Today the Sixth Circuit granted my request to review this important matter, and I am hopeful that they will send this case back to state court where it belongs,” she said.

However, Enbridge said it expects the matter will remain in federal court.

“Today’s decision merely allows the Attorney General to pursue an appeal of Judge Neff’s decision from August 2022 that this case properly belongs in federal court. We are confident that the Sixth Circuit will ultimately agree with Judge Neff’s decision,” Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said in an email to the Advance.

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