A federal judge in Montana refused to dismiss a pending lawsuit by Keystone XL pipeline opponents against owner TC Energy Corp., even though the Calgary-based energy firm announced in early June that it had “definitively terminated” the Canada-U.S. project after President Joe Biden revoked its critical cross-border permit in a Jan. 20 executive order.
The case contains a “live controversy” and cannot be dismissed as moot, Judge Brian Morris said in a July 30 order, because the court can provide relief to plaintiffs “by ordering the removal” of a 1.2-mile border segment of the line constructed under the presidential permit issued in 2019 by former President Donald Trump. Plaintiffs are Indigenous Environmental Network and North Coast Rivers Alliance.