BAY CITY, MI (AP)-- A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of the government in a dispute over an oil pipeline that runs through a national forest in Michigan's Oscoda County.
The Sierra Club sued the U.S. Forest Service, saying it didn't prepare an environmental analysis when it renewed Enbridge Energy's right-of-way permit. But the appeals court on Thursday agreed with a federal judge in Bay City who said the agency wasn't required to perform an assessment.
The 30-inch pipeline is part of an Enbridge line that starts in Wisconsin and ends in Ontario, Canada. The court noted that a biologist found no impact on endangered Kirtland's warbler birds.
The court says the Forest Service's process was not arbitrary.
Enbridge says the light crude in Line 5 improves the quality of life in Michigan.
