The city of Lansing and the Wolverine Pipe Line Co. are awaiting a decision by the Michigan Supreme Court as to whether city approval is needed to build a 26-mile gasoline pipeline.

The two sides argued their case before the court Thursday in what was the latest in the company's almost three-year struggle to construct the pipeline. A ruling is expected within a couple of months.

Lansing City Attorney Jim Smiertka said that he could not guess what the outcome of the hearing will be.

"You can always get an idea about how things went, but until you receive the written opinion, you can't tell," he said.

Wolverine spokesman Tom Shields said the best plan is to wait for the decision. He has said before that if the company loses the case, it will not rule out taking the matter to federal court.

The court will decide whether the state constitution, as well as a certain statute, gives municipalities the right to consent to the placement of utilities along interstate highways.

About 22 miles of the pipeline would run along Interstate 96 and Wolverine claims that interstate highways are exempt from needing consent. The city's position is that both the constitution and the statute require approval from municipalities for utilities on all roads.

Thursday's hearing stemmed from a ruling by a court of appeals in June, which decided Wolverine needed approval from each of the six communities the pipeline would run through, despite possessing a legal permit for it. Lansing remains the only community against the project.

Wolverine says that the new pipeline is a necessary replacement for the 68-year-old pipeline which serves the Lansing area.

The pipeline would be able to transport about 3.1 million gallons of gasoline daily. This, the company says, is more efficient than the 800,000 gallons the current pipeline can handle, because Lansing-area residents require almost 1.5 million gallons of gas each day.

The Michigan Public Service Commission, the group that approved Wolverine's application, maintains that the company "demonstrated a need for the proposed pipeline" as well as exceeded federal pipeline safety standards.

Lansing officials will not consent to Wolverine's proposal because of concerns that the pipeline would travel through and around well-heads that supply the area with drinking water.

The 2000 breakage in one of Wolverine's pipelines near Jackson does not help the company's case.

But Elgar Brown, chief of the groundwater supply section of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality said that the possibility of widespread groundwater contamination is unlikely given Wolverine's pledged safety measures.

He added, however, that if there were a break, cleanup would be difficult.

"The bottom line is that nobody wants to see gasoline get into the groundwater," he said.