The headline above poses an interesting question. Why, indeed? But some do, and the delays they’ve caused in energy production and distribution (esp., pipeline projects) could have dire consequences for national security. Already, unnecessary delays have cost billions in litigation expenses, lost job opportunities, and higher utility bills for businesses and consumers. One can only speculate as to their self-interested or ideological motives as they persist in their obstructionism.
It’s been more than six years now since West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and other state AGs unsuccessfully petitioned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, emphasizing that it would “reduce dependence on oil imports from suppliers who are inherently unstable, shield our country from threats to its security, and assure and sustain America’s economic recovery.”
For whatever reason, Kerry, like his predecessor at State (Hillary Clinton), did not deign to approve the project, but his successor in the incoming Trump administration did.
Morrisey and his colleagues then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that halted construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, arguing that the lower court was wrong in ruling that the U.S. Forest Service lacks authority to grant rights-of-way through forestland beneath the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
Was the court really concerned about the limits of the Forest Service’s authority, or did it just want to block the project? If the latter, why?
Now a district court has decided that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit used to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline was improper and invalidates all projects using that permitting process, a decision upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Hmm. Here we go again.
“The lower court transformed a case challenging application of a permit on one pipeline project into a nationwide injunction affecting new oil and gas pipelines in every state, including West Virginia,” Morrisey says. He and his peers are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay that order.
The high court should do just that – and put an end to judicial obstructionism.