Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenges Keystone pipeline ruling
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, working with counterparts in 17 other states, has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a West Coast federal appeals court criticizing a lower court’s decision that will could delay oil and gas pipeline projects.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in April canceled an environmental permit for the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline in Montana. Morris said that the U.S. Army Corps did not adequately consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on risks to endangered species and habitat when it renewed a nationwide permit in 2017 that allows dredging work on pipelines across water bodies. To allow the agency to continue authorizing new oil and gas pipeline construction “could seriously injure projected species and critical habitat,” the judge ruled.
While the ruling does not block the construction of Keystone or other pipelines, Keystone officials have said that many projects could be delayed without permission to do the dredging work authorized by the Corps’ 2017 permit.
The ruling was welcomed by the environmental groups that filed the challenge in the first place but opposed by energy companies.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20200518/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-challenges-keystone-pipeline-ruling