[JURIST] The US State Department [official website] granted [press release] a presidential permit to the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline [corporate website] on Friday allowing it to “construct, connect, operate, and maintain pipeline facilities at the U.S.-Canadian border in Phillips County, Montana for the importation of crude oil.” According to the Department, the administration weighed the “foreign policy; energy security; environmental, cultural, and economic impacts; and compliance with applicable law and policy.” The Keystone XL Pipeline [company website], which will be a 1,179-mile pipeline running from Alberta to Nebraska, was rejected [Reuters report] in 2015 by former president Barack Obama [official website], saying that the pipeline would release emissions that may add to climate change. Current President Donald Trump [official website] has said the pipeline will create thousands of jobs.

In January Trump signed [JURIST report] an executive order to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. In December the Army Corps of Engineers had announced [JURIST report] that they would find an alternative path for the Dakota Access Pipeline. In January 2016 TransCanada filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging Obama’s veto [JURIST report] of the Keystone XL pipeline.