Courts Rule Against the Keystone XL Pipeline—Again

In a win for the climate, environment, and local communities, the dirty tar sands pipeline now faces even more delays and uncertainty.
Deer at a depot used to store pipes for TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline in Gascoyne, North Dakota, 2017
Credit: Terray Sylvester/Reuters

In a win for the climate, environment, and local communities, the dirty tar sands pipeline now faces even more delays and uncertainty.

The Keystone XL pipeline faced yet another setback on Friday when a federal judge reaffirmed that TransCanada cannot continue any pre-construction field activities until the federal government revises its environmental review—further delaying the controversial project. “Keystone XL cannot be built unless and until the Trump administration complies with the law,” says Jackie Prange, a senior attorney at NRDC, which, with partners, sued the U.S. Department of State for its March 2017 decision to issue a U.S.–Canada cross-border permit for KXL without doing a complete, current review of its environmental and health threats.

A federal court had ruled this August that the State Department had violated bedrock environmental laws because it failed to evaluate the pipeline’s new route through Nebraska. The court then ruled in November that the environmental review failed to properly analyze other critical aspects of the project’s impacts, such as those on climate change and oil spills. The court blocked any construction until the government completes a more robust environmental impact statement—and Friday’s ruling confirmed that the injunction includes all ground-disturbing pre-construction activities as well.

The fight against the pipeline is now a decade old. If built, Keystone XL would carry up to 35 million gallons a day of Canadian tar sands oil—one of the world’s dirtiest energy sources—across critical water sources and wildlife habitat to Gulf Coast refineries. Its hefty carbon footprint also represents a significant step backward from our clean energy goals. “This decision is one more victory for the rule of law over this reckless and risky project,” Prange says.

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