(MPRN-Lansing) A federal appeals court says an Enbridge oil pipeline that runs through a northern Michigan national forest does not need a new permit to continue operating.
The Sierra Club says Enbridge’s Line 5 permit effectively expired and needed a new one. The Sierra Club’s David Holtz says that warranted a new environmental risk assessment by the US Forest Service.
“So their permit was up and that’s basically what our argument is, that they should have done that.”
The appeals court says there was nothing that requires a new look at the environmental risks of the pipeline to the Huron-Manistee National Forest in northern Michigan, or to endangered species such as the Kirtland’s Warbler.
Line 5 also runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac. The arguments over the environmental risks of the underwater portion of the pipeline were not part of this case.