Enbridge Line 5: Michigan Public Service Commission Litigation

See below for 1) Applicant Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership’s Limited Objections to the Notice of Intervention of the Attorney General; (2) Applicant Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership’s Limited Objections to the Petitions to Intervene Filed by The Bay Mills Indian Community, The Grand Traverse Band Of Ottawa And Chippewa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands Of Odawa Indians, and Notttawaseppi Huron Band Of The Pottawatomi; (3) Applicant Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership’s Objections to the Petitions to Intervene Filed by The Michigan Environmental Council, Tip Of The Mitt Watershed Council, The National Wildlife Federation, For Love Of Water, The Environmental Law & Policy Center, And Michigan Climate Action Network and Certificate of Service.

A pre-hearing was scheduled Wednesday August 12, 2020 at 1:00PM. Petitions to intervene from Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band, Little Traverse Bay Bands, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band below. In addition, the Attorney General is now intervening in the proceedings and Enbridge has asked for a rehearing which is also below.

Other Line 5 posts here.

Bay Mills Indian Community Continues Fight Against Line 5-Petition to Intervene in MI Public Service Commission Proceedings

BayMills_EnbridgeLine5_Release

2020-05-11 U-20763 Petition to Intevene by Bay Mills (Cover ltr+POS)

2020-05-13 U-20763 Comments of Bay Mills Indian Community + Attachments A-F (cover ltr +POS)

Article on Enbridge Pipelines and Lawsuit Against Judge Botsford in North Dakota

Here.

[James] Botsford, a North Dakota farm owner, learned that in September 2013, when Enbridge informed him that the company was seeking a temporary restraining order against him. Botsford, who is also an attorney and a Supreme Court judge for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, had tried to prevent Enbridge from surveying his land for the Sandpiper’s possible route. Botsford, who strongly opposes the pipeline’s construction, believed that the survey would be “the camel’s nose under the tent.” He attempted to refuse the company access to his farm.

“To that, they basically said, ‘We’re Enbridge, we don’t go around anything, we go through it,’ ” says Botsford.

Enbridge got its restraining order, forcing Botsford to allow the company to complete the survey. The pipeline’s route, Botsford believes, was “basically already a done deal,” and he soon heard from the company again. This time, Enbridge wanted Botsford to grant him an  easement—a legal right to use another’s property for a specific purpose, in this case the construction and maintenance of a pipeline. After Botsford refused, twice, to sign an easement agreement, the company filed a civil suit against him in June.

Gofundme link to the Botsford defense here.