A U.S. district judge in Montana ruled Friday that tribal and environmental lawsuits against the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline may go forward.
The federal government and pipeline developer TC Energy had filed to stop the lawsuits earlier this year.
Attorney Matthew Campbell represents the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
He says the 1,200-mile pipeline would cross tribally-owned land and therefore violates his clients’ land rights.
“We’re happy to see that the court rightly found that the treaties clearly apply to the United States and even to the president,” Campbell said.
In his Friday ruling, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris expressed skepticism over government arguments that President Trump has unilateral authority to approve the $8 billion pipeline.
But Morris denied a request for a court injunction to prohibit preliminary work on the pipeline, since no such work is planned until spring 2020.
Morris had blocked the project last year, prompting Trump to issue a new permit in March in an attempt to circumvent the court.
