Sierra Club loses appeal over permit for pipeline

BAY CITY, Mich. (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 last 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 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.