Keystone Pipeline Legal Challenge by Tribes Clears First Hurdle

  • Montana judge allows lawsuit targeting Trump permit to advance
  • Judge says it’s a plausible claim Trump exceeded his authority
Clayton Thomas-Muller, with Idle No More and 350.org, rallies with demonstrators against the Keystone XL pipeline outside of the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2015.Photographer: Pete Marovich/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Native American tribes cleared a hurdle in their lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s permit for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.

A federal judge in Montana on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s request to throw out the lawsuit. The tribes claim that a permit issued in March by the president to TC Energy Corp. would allow the pipeline to disturb cultural sites and water supplies in violation of tribal law and treaties.