Keystone XL pipeline: Texas and Montana lead coalition of states suing Biden
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen argued in the complaint that Congress, not Biden, has the authority to change the policy.
Biden’s order “cites no statutory or other authorization permitting the President to change energy policy as set by Congress in this manner,” Paxton and Knudsen wrote in the complaint, arguing that “the President lacks the power to enact his ‘ambitious plan’ to reshape the economy in defiance of Congress’s unwillingness to do so.”
Bringing the suit on “behalf of many of the States through which Keystone XL runs,” they’re joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in challenging Biden’s move.
Biden revoked the permit for the pipeline on his first day in office through executive action as part of a series of moves aimed at combating climate change, which also included rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change and placing a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic.
Keystone XL, a planned pipeline that would carry oil from the tar sands of Canada into the United States, has been a political football between climate activists and the oil industry.
The Biden administration’s stance and actions to date on climate marks a significant departure from that of former President Donald Trump, who granted the permit to the controversial pipeline and was a fierce advocate for the fossil fuels industry. Among other steps, Trump gutted environmental regulations, attempted to bail out coal miners, installed a former coal lobbyist to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency and helped broker a deal with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to rescue shale oil producers.
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