Judge rules Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline case with Michigan be heard in federal court

A legal battle between Enbridge Inc and the state of Michigan over Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline will be heard in US federal court, a judge ruled on Tuesday, dismissing Michigan’s motion to have the case removed to state court.

Canadian pipeline company Enbridge and the state of Michigan have been locked in a long-running dispute over Line 5, which ships 540,000 barrels per day of crude and refined products from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, via the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes.

Michigan ordered the pipeline to shut down by May over concerns an underwater section could leak into the Great Lakes, an order that Enbridge has ignored.