THE MACKINAC BRIDGE in the Straits of Mackinac in May 2024. (Susan J. Demas/Michigan Advance)

A federal court has denied yet another attempt to dismiss Canadian energy company Enbridge’s case against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, continuing to uphold a previous decision that the case presents an exception to the state’s immunity to lawsuits.

Assistant Attorney General Dan Bock argued in March that Enbridge’s challenge, filed as a response to Whitmer’s decision to pull the permit allowing the company to operate its Line 5 pipeline within the Straits of Mackinac, should be dismissed. Bock argued the pipeline company’s claims were blocked by the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents federal courts from hearing certain lawsuits against states.

However, the court ultimately determined that Enbridge’s lawsuit was not barred by sovereign immunity, denying Bock’s motion to have the case dismissed.

While Bock later filed a petition for a rehearing on the matter, Judges Karen Nelson Moore, Rachel S. Bloomekatz and Raymond M. Kethledge denied that request in an order Monday, bringing an end to the third attempt to have the case thrown out.

Enbridge’s case against Whitmer is one of many centered around the pipeline, which stretches from northwestern Wisconsin through Michigan into Sarnia, Ontario.

It crosses both Dickinson and Iron counties in the region.

Whitmer, alongside Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, several Native American Tribes and a bevy of environmental organizations have filed a number of challenges to keep the 70-year old pipeline from operating in the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet, citing environmental concerns should the pipeline rupture.

While the company has sought to place a new segment of the pipeline into a concrete-lined utility tunnel as a measure to protect against a spill into the environmentally sensitive straits, activists have argued this plan would still bring harm to the environment, and carries the risk of a potential spill during construction.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been doing virtual public meetings since Wednesday ahead of a shortened public comment deadline of June 30 as it works to complete its long-awaited environmental review of the Line 5 tunnel project.

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