The federal district court for the District of Montana granted plaintiffs’ motion to supplement the administrative record in a lawsuit challenging U.S Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project under the reissued Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP 12) for pipeline and utility projects. The plaintiffs assert, among other arguments, that the environmental review for NWP 12 failed consider climate impacts. The court noted that the administrative record currently documented the Corps’ decision to reissue NWP 12 in 2017. The court said it would consider eight additional documents concerning applications and authorizations specifically for the Keystone XL pipeline under the reissued NWP 12 “for the limited purpose of understanding whether the Corps considered all relevant factors and complied with the [Administrative Procedure Act]’s requirement that an agency’s decision be neither arbitrary or capricious.” The court also agreed to consider a 2012 biological opinion for a prior version of NWP 12 for the limited purpose of considering whether the Corps failed to conduct programmatic consultation in connection with reissuance of NWP 12 in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The court said it would not use any of the documents “to judge the wisdom of the Corps’ actions or to question the Corps’ scientific analyses or conclusions.”

Challenge to U.S Army Corps of Engineers approval of Keystone XL pipeline project under the reissued Nationwide Permit 12 for pipeline and utility projects.

Northern Plains Resource Council v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Montana Federal Court Agreed to Consider Keystone XL-Specific Documents and 2012 Biological Opinion in Challenge to Authorization Under Nationwide Permit

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

Montana Federal Court Agreed to Consider Keystone XL-Specific Documents and 2012 Biological Opinion in Challenge to Authorization Under Nationwide Permit

Fossil fuel

Economic sector