Several U.S. states sue Biden administration for revoking permit for Keystone XL pipeline

[March 18, 2021]  (Reuters) - Texas and several other U.S. states have sued the administration of President Joe Biden over his decision to revoke a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The lawsuit states that Biden does not have the unilateral authority to change energy policy that the U.S. Congress has set, Paxton said .

Biden revoked a permit for the pipeline which would transport 830,000 barrels a day of carbon-intensive heavy crude from Canada's Alberta to Nebraska. It was part of a flurry of executive orders aimed at curbing climate change.

The head of the U.S. Senate energy committee, Joe Manchin, urged Biden last month to reverse his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, saying the project provides union jobs and is safer than transporting the oil via trucks and trains.

Canada's TC Energy Corp is the owner of the oil pipeline project.

The complaint on Wednesday was filed by Paxton and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen in Texas federal district court.

A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota, January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester/File Photo

The suit is joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Wednesday. ​

"The Executive's unilateral decision to revoke the Keystone XL permit is contrary to the constitutional structure to which the states agreed at the time of ratification," the states said in the lawsuit.

"The Executive's decision also encroaches upon the states' abilities to steward and control the lands within their borders."

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin)

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