"The Trump administration has been trying to rewrite two laws at the heart of the oil pipeline ruling: NEPA and the Endangered Species Act. "
"The embattled Keystone XL oil pipeline faces yet another delay after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to conduct a new environmental review of the project.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris of Montana issued a sharp rebuke to the federal government, which had argued it need not produce an extensive new environmental impact statement for the pipeline after regulators in Nebraska ordered its builder to follow a new route.
In his ruling Wednesday, Morris said the alternative route would cross five different counties and different water bodies, would be longer than the original path, and would require an additional pump station with supporting power line infrastructure. As a result, he wrote, federal agencies "cannot escape their responsibility" to evaluate the alternative under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)."
Nicholas Kusnetz reports for InsideClimate News August 16, 2018.
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