The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Michigan regulators failed to properly weigh the Great Lakes’ public trust protections and environmental impacts before approving Enbridge Energy’s proposed Line 5 tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac. The Court overturned the Michigan Public Service Commission’s (“MPSC”) approval of the project and sent the case back to the agency for further review of public trust and environmental impacts — a major victory for Flow Water Advocates (“Flow”) and its Tribal and environmental co-appellants.
The ruling resolved the consolidated appeals brought by Flow, four federally recognized Tribes – the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi – and the Environmental Law and Policy Center and the Michigan Climate Action Network, all of whom challenged the MPSC’s approval of the tunnel.
