21 States File Lawsuit Against Biden To Overturn Controversial Canceling Of Keystone XL Pipeline
Twenty-one states have reportedly filed a lawsuit against Democrat President Joe Biden over his controversial move earlier this year to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline deal.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the US District Court for Southern District of Texas and the states participating alleged that Biden had overstepped his presidential authority when he decided to revoke the pipeline permit on his very first day as president — a decision that has angered Canada and sparked pushback from even Democrats.
21 Republican State Attorneys General File Lawsuit Against Biden Over Keystone Pipeline https://t.co/G2Tm9AJbSF
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 18, 2021
The states that are suing the Democratic President include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
“The GOP-led states argue that by revoking the permit on his first day in office, Biden exceeded his authority because of a provision Congress tucked into tax legislation in 2011 that required President Barack Obama to either approve the pipeline within 60 days or issue a determination that it wasn’t in the national interest,” NBC News reported.
Many of the states aren’t near the proposed path for Keystone XL, which was planned to carry oil from tar sands in Alberta to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast — but the Montana attorney general argued that cancelling the pipeline deal would “also have a ripple effect that adversely impacts the economy and environment in non-pipeline states.”
“Within hours of taking office, President Biden issued an Executive Order that purports to revoke the permit on the grounds that he has ‘an ambitious plan’ to ‘reduce harmful emissions and create good clean-energy jobs’ and that this completed pipeline would ‘not be consistent with [his] Administration’s economic and climate imperatives,’’ the lawsuit stated.
“The order itself relies on a permit provision that purports to allow such revocation by agreement from the Company holding the permit. But it cites no statutory or other authorization permitting the President to change energy policy as set by Congress in this manner,” it added.
Former President Barack Obama has already earlier turned down the application by TransCanada (now TC Energy Corp.) saying Congress gave him “insufficient time” to vet on the project. But he allowed the natural gas firm to reapply — which deferred the decision until after he was re-elected.
Obama later on rejected the application, but former President Donald Trump approved it citing the importance of “having the infrastructure necessary to meet [the] energy needs of the country and to further fuel economic progress.”
Biden then revoked his approval.
The lawsuit further added: “Revocation of the Keystone XL pipeline permit is a regulation of interstate and international commerce, which can only be accomplished as any other statute can: through the process of bicameralism and presentment. The President lacks the power to enact his ‘ambitious plan’ to reshape the economy in defiance of Congress’s unwillingness to do so.”
“To the extent that Congress had delegated such authority, it would violate the non-delegation doctrine. But Congress has not delegated such authority: It set specific rules regarding what actions the President can take about Keystone XL and when. The President, together with various senior executive officials, violated those rules. The action should be set aside as inconsistent with the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 500, et seq.,” it added.
Texas AG: Biden wants to undo everything that Trump did
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement that Biden’s move to revoke Keystone XL pipeline’s permit is merely political.
“Since his first day in office, President Biden has made it his mission to undo all the progress of the previous administration, with complete disregard for the Constitutional limits on his power. His decision to revoke the pipeline permit is not only unlawful but will also devastate the livelihoods of thousands of workers, their families, and their communities,” Paxton said.
“This administration continues to tout imaginary green-energy jobs, without any recognition that their actions in the real world will make it impossible for hard-working Americans to put food on the table,” he added.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen argued that the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce belongs to Congress — not the President.
“This is another example of Joe Biden overstepping his constitutional role to the detriment of Montanans,” Knudsen said.
“There is not even a perceived environmental benefit to his actions. His attempt to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline is an empty virtue signal to his wealthy coastal elite donors. It shows Biden’s contempt for rural communities in Montana and other states along the pipeline’s path that would benefit from and support the project,” he added.
According to the Keystone XL project, there would have been an estimated 10,400 US jobs and 2,800 Canadian jobs created throughout the pipeline’s construction — which was no more after Biden cancelled the project.
