Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Department of State

Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the construction of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. The lawsuit alleged that defendants' construction activities violated NEPA because they were undertaken before the environmental review was complete. The activities included clearing of rare, native grasses and the trapping and relocating of the endangered American burying beetle. The plaintiffs said that they had submitted comments on the draft environmental impact statements about the pipeline's adverse effects on public health, the global climate, and threatened and endangered species.