Federal court upholds Enbridge's Great Lakes spill plans

A federal court has sided with pipeline company Enbridge in a dispute over plans to deal with a potential oil spill in Michigan's Straits of Mackinac. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week overruled a judge who had found that a federal agency wrongly approved Enbridge's plans. The judge agreed with the National Wildlife Federation that the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration should have considered risks to endangered species and required an environmental impact statement. But in a 2-1 ruling, the appeals panel said the agency had correctly based its approval of the plans on criteria in the Clean Water Act.