Paxton leads Keystone XL pipeline suit against Biden
Attorneys General Ken Paxton of Texas and Austin Knudsen of Montana, along with 19 other states, are suing the Biden administration in Texas federal court for revoking the 2019 presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing the president can’t change energy policy set by Congress.
On his first day in office, Biden revoked the permit on the 1,700-mile pipeline that was to transport more than 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf.
“Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my administration’s economic and climate imperatives,” Biden said at the time.
The Department of Justice, which represents the White House in court, declined to comment about the case.
In Paxton’s lawsuit, he argues that only
Congress has the authority to regulate interstate and international commerce, not the president.
It marks Paxton’s second major suit against the Biden administration in what he’s promised will be an ongoing campaign.
“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,” Paxton said. “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.”
Keystone XL President Richard Prior in January said more than 1,000 jobs, the majority unionized, would be eliminated.
The pipeline has come to represent the larger national debate over climate change with Democrats and environmentalists arguing that the carbon pollution it would cause would be too great. Republicans, on the other hand, tout its job creation and say it will help reduce dependence on overseas oil. The pipeline expansion was first proposed in 2008.
The project has been on hold as different administrations reviewed it and litigation was filed. The Obama administration’s State Department rejected it in 2015, but President Donald Trump brought it back four years later.
In the 46-page suit, the states suing the Biden administration argue that Congress in December 2011 attached a provision to a tax bill that forced Obama to approve the pipeline within 60 days or explain why it wasn’t in the national interest. If he did not, Congress would grant the permit.
The Obama administration said that was not enough time to review the application and about a month later rejected the permit,
though officials said the developer Transcanada Corporation was free to reapply.
The suit claims that Obama’s rationale for rejecting the pipeline was “not based on the conclusion that Keystone XL disserved the national interest” and therefore, Congress’ decision to approve it stands.
It also argues the president lacked the authority to regulate oil pipelines and the decision was unlawfully “arbitrary and capricious.”
“Essentially, the president purports to unilaterally shutter Keystone XL to send a climate-friendly signal to the international community and secure a stronger negotiating position in his efforts to combat climate change,” it states. “Congress has never allowed the president to encroach upon its powers over international and interstate commerce in order to facilitate the president’s pursuit of such vague objectives.”