ELR Citation: 51 ELR 20146
No(s). 4:19-cv-00028-BMM (D. Mont. Jul 30, 2021) (Morris, J.)

A district court denied a pipeline company's motion to dismiss a challenge to President Trump's issuance of a permit for construction of a cross-border segment of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Environmental groups had argued the president's issuance of the permit violated the Property Clause, the Commerce Clause, and Executive Order No. 13337, and the court had held that the suit presented a live controversy despite President Biden's subsequent revocation of the permit, because it was not clear whether the president or a future president could unilaterally issue another permit. The pipeline company subsequently announced that it "definitively terminated" the pipeline, and moved to dismiss for mootness in light of this announcement. The court again found the suit presented a live controversy for substantially the same reason it did previously, and denied the company's motion to dismiss.