MICHIGAN Governor Gretchen Whitmer has accused a Canadian company of defying the US state’s right to protect its environment following a lawsuit over the closure of an oil pipeline.

Enbridge has issued a legal challenge to an order in which Ms Whitmer instructed it to halt the flow of oil through its Line 5 pipeline along the Straits of Mackinac, a narrow channel linking two of the Great Lakes, Michigan and Huron.

The governor says the underwater pipes are unsound and could leak, adding that the original “easement” by which the company was allowed to run them underwater violated the state’s duty to protect its waters. Her spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said Enbridge was defying “the people of Michigan and their right to protect the Great Lakes from a catastrophic oil spill.”

Enbridge says its pipes are safe and that the pipeline is subject to federal authorities. It accused the governor of “playing politics with the energy needs of US and Canadian consumers.”