Mayor of Lansing v. Michigan Public Service Commission
Michigan Supreme Court
680 N.W.2d 840 (2004)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Wolverine Pipe Line Company (Wolverine) (defendant) wished to build a gas pipeline longitudinally within the right-of-way in the City of Lansing (plaintiff). Subsection 1 of the relevant Michigan law permitted public utilities like Wolverine to construct pipelines, subject to subsection 2 of the statute, longitudinally within the right-of-way if they obtained consent of the municipality before construction. Subsection 2 stated that a certain subset of public utilities (subsection 2 utilities), defined by federal law, could construct lines longitudinally subject to certain standards for such longitudinal construction. Wolverine qualified as a subsection 2 utility under federal law. Wolverine claimed that because it qualified as a subsection 2 utility and subsection 2 did not contain a municipal-consent requirement, Wolverine did not need to obtain Lansing’s consent to construct its longitudinal pipeline. The Michigan Public Service Commission (defendant) agreed. The Michigan Supreme Court granted leave to appeal.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Taylor, J.)
Dissent (Cavanagh, J.)
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