In a huge win for environmentalists and indigenous groups, Judge Brian Morris of the District Court for the District of Montana denied Trump’s argument that he had the right to approve the project without justification, but Morris disagreed. Since President Obama had already nixed the act, Trump had to prove that he had additional information that discredits the reports Obama used to deny the project. Trump did not sufficiently do so, according to Morris.
#Breaking: A federal judge invalidates Trump administration’s #KeystoneXL environmental review, blocks construction on the pipeline, and orders government to revise its environmental review. Our statement: https://t.co/tZAGwhq31K
— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) November 9, 2018
The justifications originally offered were incomplete. Sierra Club, and environmentalist group, said:
‘A federal judge ruled today that the Trump administration violated bedrock U.S. environmental laws when approving a federal permit for TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project. The judge blocked any construction on the pipeline and ordered the government to revise its environmental review.’
BREAKING: Federal judge vacates President Trump's permit for the Keystone XL pipeline
— BNO News (@BNONews) November 9, 2018
His failure to do any research or appoint experts to form an argument for building the pipeline helped lose him the case.
‘U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris found that the Trump administration’s reliance on a stale environmental review from 2014 violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. This ruling follows the court’s previous decision, on August 15, 2018, to require additional analysis of the new route through Nebraska.’
Attorneys for the Rosebud Sioux tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Reservation asked U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in Great Falls, Montana, to rescind the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, issued last year by the U.S. State Department.https://t.co/X8svhYRWgK
— SierraClubWI (@SierraClubWI) November 7, 2018
Sierra Club Senior Attorney Doug Hayes gave a statement:
‘Today’s ruling makes it clear once and for all that it’s time for TransCanada to give up on their Keystone XL pipe dream. The Trump administration tried to force this dirty pipeline project on the American people, but they can’t ignore the threats it would pose to our clean water, our climate, and our communities.
Featured image via Flickr by Joe Brusky under a Creative Commons license
