Canada petitioned a US federal court on Tuesday to block a Michigan state order to shut down a cross-border pipeline that supplies half of the oil to its eastern provinces.

The third-party brief filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Michigan said Canadian operator Enbridge and the US state -- which are in mediation over the Line 5 conduit -- must be given time to reach a negotiated resolution.

"Line 5 is essential to our energy security," Canadian National Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan said in a statement.

He warned that "the shutdown of Line 5 ordered by Michigan would have immediate and severe adverse impacts in Canada," causing job losses and gas shortages.

Earlier Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he raised the Line 5 issue with President Joe Biden, remarking that "the energy cooperation and partnership between Canada and the US is good for citizens on both sides of our border."

He also vowed to "do what is necessary to protect Canadians interests and defend the energy security of Canadians."

Built in 1953, the Line 5 pipeline carries up to 540,000 barrels of oil and natural gas daily from western Canada to Ontario and Quebec provinces, as well as to parts of the United States. Its route dips south into the United States to get around the Great Lakes.

Although it has never sprung a leak, a section passes under a strait connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Huron, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer -- backed by environmental and indigenous groups -- has given Enbridge until Wednesday to shut it down.

Specifically she revoked an easement granted so the pipeline could cross the Straits of Mackinac, reportedly calling it a "ticking time bomb."

Enbridge has committed to building a new underground tunnel beneath the strait in order to address environmental concerns, but it is not expected to be completed until 2024.

In the meantime, the company is fighting in court the governor's Wednesday deadline to shut down the pipeline.

The Canadian government's court filing cites a 1977 treaty that allowed the transportation of oil from Alaska through Canada to the lower 48 US states and led to the integration of the two nations' energy markets.

More than 70 pipelines and over 30 electricity transmission lines now cross the Canada-US border.

Biden on his first day in office cancelled permits for another cross-border pipeline -- Keystone XL -- which was fiercely opposed by environmentalists but backed by Ottawa.

The 1,210-mile (1,947-kilometer) pipeline would have transported up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day from the Alberta oil sands to Nebraska and then through an existing system to refineries in coastal Texas.

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