The Canadian government has rescued Enbridge Inc.’s 540,000 b/d oil Line 5 from a Wisconsin tribe’s lawsuit by invoking its 1977 Pipeline Transit Treaty with the United States, a U.S. court has confirmed.

Enbridge Line 5

U.S. District Court Judge William Conley of the Western District of Wisconsin on Thursday rejected a demand by the Lake Superior Chippewa Bad River Band for a closure injunction. 

“There is little question that an immediate shutdown of the pipeline would have significant public policy implications on the trade relationship,” the court ruled.

“A provision of the transit treaty prohibits any ‘public authority’ of either nation from ‘instituting any measures’ that would impede the flow of oil in certain cross-border pipelines, including Line 5.”

Canadian...