FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 19, 2025
Lansing, Mich. – The Michigan Supreme Court has granted a landmark application for leave to appeal, paving the way for a review of the Michigan Public Service Commission’s (MPSC) decision to approve a permit for Enbridge’s proposed oil pipeline tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac. This order, issued on September 19, 2025, also invites the State Bar of Michigan Environmental Law Section and Real Property Law Section to file amicus briefs.
For Love of Water (FLOW), a Traverse City-based environmental nonprofit recently rebranded as Flow Water Advocates, initiated the legal challenge, arguing that the MPSC failed to uphold its public trust obligations to protect Michigan’s waters. The Supreme Court’s order specifically directs the parties to address whether the MPSC is required to comply with the common law public trust doctrine in its permitting decisions.
“This is an incredibly important step forward for the protection of the Great Lakes,” said Flow Water Advocates Legal Director Carrie La Seur. “The public trust doctrine is a fundamental principle of Michigan law that must be considered in decisions that affect our natural resources. We are eager to argue this case and ensure that our state’s waters are protected for generations to come.”
The case will be heard alongside a related appeal from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, a testament to the broad legal and public interest in this issue. The Supreme Court’s decision to grant review signifies the high stakes and critical legal questions surrounding the Enbridge Line 5 tunnel.
Flow is represented in this case by its legal team and co-counsel.
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Flow Water Advocates is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Traverse City, Michigan. Our mission is to ensure the waters of the Great Lakes Basin are healthy, public, and protected for all. With a staff of legal and policy experts, writers, and community builders, Flow is a trusted resource for Great Lakes advocates. We help communities, businesses, agencies, and governments make informed policy decisions and protect public trust rights to water. Learn more at www.FlowWaterAdvocates.org.
I live in Illinois, and I cherish the Great Lakes. I strenuously oppose the plan to build a Line 5 tunnel.
It’s time to shift our whole country to wind, solar, and geothermal energy and to reject all new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. Building a new line 5, is a commitment to continue using fossil fuels for decades to come. That would bring disaster upon millions of vulnerable people across the globe, because it would mean more wildfires, more droughts, ore floods, more heat domes, and more hurricanes. Please stop Line 5. Protect our great lakes.
Good work. Thanks for all you do to help protect our waters. Enbridge must be stopped.
Please protect this unique and irreplaceable resource. It belongs to all os us and to the future beings.
This is such an important issue for all of us here in Michigan. Protecting fresh water in our country should be of paramount importance to all US citizens. Keep up the good work!
Yes, stop Enbridge! Let’s not have to change the lyrics in the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The wording of “the Captain wired in he had water comin’ in,” to “the Captain wired in he had Canadian tar sand oil tainted water comin’ in.” …………