Enbridge Gets Boost From Canada to Prevent Line 5 Shutdown

Canada on Friday urged a federal judge to prevent Michigan’s governor from forcing the shutdown of the Enbridge Inc.-owned Line 5 oil and gas pipeline, pending its treaty’s dispute resolution process.

The country, in a proposed friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Canada-headquartered Enbridge’s summary-judgment request, noted that it invoked the dispute resolution process from a 1977 transnational pipeline treaty with the US after Michigan officials sought in court to enforce a decision by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to terminate an easement for Line 5.

That process is ongoing, and shutdown now “would constitute a violation of the United States’ international law ...