Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Indigenous and conservation groups were part of a demonstration last week in Cincinnati, highlighting what they say are the risks to their region from the Line 5 oil pipeline.
In the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Nessel’s office delivered oral arguments in a lawsuit asking to decommission the oil pipeline owned by Enbridge.
Nessel charges the company with putting its own profits above the state’s natural resources. She told the crowd the case has been in limbo while Enbridge has requested it be moved from court to court.
“This is a Michigan case brought under Michigan law by Michigan’s chief law enforcement officer on behalf of the people of the state of Michigan, on behalf of our Great Lakes, and it belongs in a Michigan court,” Nessel said.
More than 60 tribal nations support the motion to bring the case back to Michigan. They contend the pipeline operates illegally through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation in northern Wisconsin.
Enbridge acknowledges Line 5 was built in the 1950s, but says it is monitored 24/7.
