Planning for Canada-U.S. treaty talks on Line 5 ‘well underway,’ Canada says
WASHINGTON — Court documents filed by the federal government say planning is well underway for bilateral talks in the dispute over the Line 5 cross-border pipeline.
A proposed motion filed last week in U.S. District Court in Michigan says the first formal negotiating session between the two countries will happen “shortly.”
Canada decided last month to invoke a 1977 pipelines treaty between the two countries after talks broke down between the state of Michigan and the pipeline’s operator, Enbridge Inc.
Michigan wants the line shut down for fear of an ecological disaster in the Straits of Mackinac, the waterway where the pipeline crosses the Great Lakes.