Enbridge Puts Environmentalists on Defensive in Line 5 Arguments

Wednesday’s Michigan Supreme Court arguments about Enbridge Inc.’s plan to replace a segment of the controversial Line 5 pipeline got technical, but the energy giant put what it saw as the stakes of the cases in stark terms.

The Canadian company’s attorney, John J. Bursch, told the justices in a Lansing courtroom packed with Line 5 opponents that the options are twofold: will Enbridge continue to transport oil and gas through the Straits of Mackinac through two decades-old lakebed pipelines, or will it do so through a tunnel buried beneath the surface?

“Now, the environmental calculus there is obvious, and ...