RE:Enbridge now up 2-0 on Gretchen Whitmer/Dana NesselMarner, I hope you got Sweetjane something nice for Christmas. Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.
Marner16 wrote: I haven't disappeared. I try to limit my posts to things worth discussing rather than babbling away endlessly about useless nonsense.
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First, Gov. Whitmer withdraws her case against ENB after realizing that she was holding a losing hand with her complaint. ENB 1 - Whitmer/Nessel 0
So, being the politician that she is, she put her support behind the lawsuit initiated by Michigan Attonrney General Dana Nessel in 2019 which was scheduled to be heard January 7, 2022.
What Whitmer didn't count on was:
"Western District of Michigan U.S. District Judge Janet Neff on Nov. 16 ruled that a case the state filed in Ingham County court in 2020 seeking the pipeline's closure was properly removed to federal court because it involved federal issues, such as the authority of federal pipeline regulators and the invocation of a 1977 Transit Pipeline Treaty by Canada over the threatened closure. The federal issues are far from 'trivial' but raise vitally important questions that implicate the federal regulatory scheme for pipeline safety and international affairs," Neff wrote.
ENB used Federal Judge Neff's ruling on Nov 16, 2021 to remove Michigan's second 2020 case to Federal court as the basis of new "solid and unambiguous information" to reopen a 30 day window to replied to Michigan Attorney General Nissel's original filing of the complaint from 2019.
Of course Michigan Attorney General called ENB's removal of Nessel's 2019 original complaint an "outrageous manoeuver" and said "We will address this flagrant attempt to undermine that process in court and remain fervently committed to our belief that the fate of Michigan’s greatest natural resources should be determined in a Michigan court,"
I can't see how Nessel stands a chance of having the decision reversed as the two cases are clearly related and under Federal jurisdiction as determined by Judge Neff. The fact that moving both cases to Federal court kills two cases with one trial with one judge fully versed on the issues rather than wasting taxpayer money on two.
Enbridge 2 - Whitmer/ Nessel 0
If you found the above a bit confusing, you are not alone as I had to pick it over to figure out what was going on.
The entire issue is now in the hands of the Federal court, now controlled by the Republicans (laws are as much about party politic as they are about actual law in the States). That pretty much guarantees that the Whitmer/Nessel political play to make an issue out of Line 5 is DONE. If I remember correctly, that is exactly what Fantome predicted a year ago.