Federal judge blocks construction of Keystone XL pipeline

A federal judge temporarily blocked construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, ruling late Thursday that the Trump administration had failed to justify its decision granting a permit for the 1,200-mile long project designed to connect Canada’s tar sands crude oil with refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

It was a major defeat for President Trump, who attacked the Obama administration for failing to move ahead in the face of protests based largely on environmental concerns. Trump signed an executive order two days into his presidency setting in motion a course reversal on the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access pipeline.

The decision, issued by Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, does not permanently block a permit but requires the administration to conduct a more complete review of potential adverse impacts related to climate change, cultural resources, and endangered species. The court basically ordered a do-over.

Morris hit the administration with a familiar charge, that it disregarded facts, facts established by experts during the Obama administration about “climate-related impacts” from Keystone XL. The Trump administration claimed, with no supporting information, that those impacts “would prove inconsequential," wrote Morris. The State Department "simply discarded prior factual findings related to climate change to support its course reversal.”

It also used “outdated information” about the impact of potential oil spills on endangered species, he said, rather than “'the best scientific and commercial data available.'”

Morris, a former clerk to the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, was appointed to the bench by President Obama.

The administration is appealing many of the rulings and may appeal Thursday’s decision as well. No immediate comment came from the administration after the pipeline order. TransCanada, the Calgary-based group behind the project, did not respond to request for comment early Friday morning.

The Keystone XL pipeline permit decision was largely in the hands of the State Department, by virtue of its authority to issue “presidential permits” for cross-border infrastructure projects.

The massive project remains one of the most controversial infrastructure proposals in modern American history.

It’s intended to be an extension of TransCanada’s existing Keystone pipeline, which was completed in 2013. Keystone XL would transport up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta, Canada, and Montana to Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast. In the U.S., the pipeline would stretch 875 miles through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, with the rest continuing into Canada.