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In response to the President’s move to sidestep the judicial order on Keystone XL, the Indigenous Environmental Network immediately filed suit on Friday with the same federal court in Montana, claiming that President Trump lacks the authority to issue pipeline permits as Congress administers federal lands.
The Keystone pipeline would cut through historical tribal lands in Montana and South Dakota, and the same judge had rejected the pipeline’s earlier permit because the Interior Department allegedly did not assess the cumulative impacts of greenhouse gases and the risk of oil spills.
White House officials maintain that President Trump’s permits are not subject to court review. The order the President will sign tomorrow comes at a time when pipeline safety is an increasing concern after several high profile pipeline explosions, including a deadly one last year in South Lawrence, Massachusetts. Members of Congress from Massachusetts plan to introduce a bill this week called the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act, named after the 18-year old victim of the explosion, which is intended to strengthen pipeline safety by closing regulatory loopholes and increasing safety standards.
Why This Matters: The Trump Administration seems determined to help the oil and gas industry build more pipelines regardless of whether it puts more human lives or precious ancestral lands at risk. The pipeline industry’s safety record is poor. At an oversight hearing yesterday, Congressman Daniel Lipinski noted that from 1999 to 2018, “the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reported 11,992 pipeline incidents that resulted in 317 deaths, 1,302 injuries, and more than $8.1 billion in damages. Incidents increased nearly twofold from 1999 to 2018.” And in 2018 alone, 8 people were killed and 92 injured in 633 pipeline incidents.
Pipeline explosion in South Lawrence, MA last year Photo: AP
By Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer Cities across the US are transitioning their buildings to clean energy, which would mean banning natural gas in new construction and promoting electric appliances. But the question remains whether or not infrastructure — foundational and historic — is ready to handle such a demand for electricity. Why this […]
As more people around the nation are taking to the roads and skies for their vaccinated vacations, one car rental company is making it easier for folks to not only travel in style, but travel green. Hertz has announced that it will be purchasing 100,000 Tesla electric vehicles by the end of 2022 alongside an […]
By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Last year, the average American household experienced eight hours without power, as storms hammered electrical systems built with less erratic climate conditions in mind. That average outage time is double what it was five years ago. But only looking at the average obscures the experience of people who lived […]
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