GALVESTON, Texas — West Virginia has joined a lawsuit with 20 other states against President Joe Biden's administration for the cancelation of the Keystone Pipeline.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said it's not only about the pipeline, but about West Virginia jobs.
“This lawsuit isn’t about one pipeline in the middle of the country, it’s about jobs right here in West Virginia and oil production nationally,” Morrisey said in a statement. “By eliminating work on the Keystone XL pipeline, the Biden administration has not only jeopardized America’s energy independence, but it has also damaged the nation’s economy and that of every state that benefits from oil and natural gas production.”
The lawsuit was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and alleges that the president doesn't have the authority to completely cancel the pipeline's permit.
When Biden took office on Jan. 20 he signed an executive order revoking the 2019 permit for building and operating the pipeline. The pipeline dealt with similar rejections under former President Barack Obama in 2015. President Donald Trump approved the permit in 2017.
This Administration has sought to leverage its power regarding U.S. foreign policy to unilaterally contradict Congress's stated domestic policy regarding one of the most significant energy projects in a generation: the Keystone XL Pipeline," the complaint states. "This it may not do."
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the states that the pipeline runs through — from Montana in the north and ending in Texas in the south. The states say they want to prevent the Biden administration from circumventing limits placed on it by the U.S. Constitution.
West Virginia joined the Montana- and Texas-led lawsuit Wednesday with attorneys general from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas at Galveston case number: 3:21-cv-00065