Civilization be darned, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted an injunction against construction of the climate-wrecking Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, saying that Donald Trump mooted the suit by tearing up the challenged permit and issuing a new one.
But hold your hooting, Trumpist tools of sadomasochist destruction. The lifting of this injunction matters not, for two reasons.
First, the environmental and tribal plaintiffs who brought this suit have filed a similar suit against Trump’s new Keystone XL permit on exactly the same grounds, arguing that the federal government issued that permit hastily and without proper and complete study. That argument is even stronger against Trump’s rushed March 2019 re-permit than it was against the March 2017 permit he tossed off. Trump’s March 2019 permit was a blatant effort to circumvent court orders and the proper review process.
Second, as we noted last month, TransCanada (freshly rebranded as TC) says the window for building Keystone XL this year has expired. We thus have plenty of time to continue to work through the courts to knock down Trump’s rule by fiat and restore the rule of law and careful environmental study before TC tries to lay any of its stockpiled pipe. We also have time to see the ACLU and environmental and tribal activists press their lawsuit against the anti-protest bills Governor Kristi Noem rushed into place last winter to chill protest against Keystone XL and her TransCanada benefactors.
Thank you! to the environmental and tribal plaintiffs who have kept Trans Canada at bay. They’re strong fighters for the betterment of SD.
http://www.themudflats.net/archives/49249
Pebble Mine, the world’s largest open pit mineral mine ever, is fast tracked by Drumpf and EPA, who had the WH take away EPA’s right to stop these permits from being issued.
In Alaska, under another wingnut governor, this permit could take only 2 years instead of nearly 10 years, and former Pebble investors and officials have jobs in Alaska’s government. Hell, the governor’s three grown daughters all work in the mining industry.
This mine is situated on Bristol Bay headwaters with an active fault line withing 5 miles of the 700 foot earthen dam that is supposed to control all waste waters for the life of the mine. Bristol Bay is home to largest wild salmon runs and tens of thousands of Natives and their cultures depend on the salmon that will be lost when the dam breaks. The designer of the new dm is the same outfit that designed the dam in Canada that caused worst Canadian spill 3ever.