The plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment on their claims that reissuance of Nationwide Permit 12 and its application to Keystone XL violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Under NEPA, the plaintiffs argued that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to evaluate the indirect and cumulative effects of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions caused by projects authorized under Nationwide Permit 12. Under the Endangered Species Act, the plaintiffs asserted that programmatic consultation was required because reissuance of Nationwide Permit 12 was clearly an agency “action” that “may affect” and “is likely to adversely affect” listed species and critical habitat due in part to the permit’s authorization of activities that cause indirect impacts associated with climate change.

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

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Plaintiffs Moved for Summary Judgment

Filed

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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.

Plaintiffs Moved for Summary Judgment

Fossil fuel

Economic sector