The Trump administration highlighted the Keystone XL pipeline in an emergency application to the Supreme Court in mid-June, asking for a stay to an earlier federal court ruling that blocked the Army Corps of Engineers’ nationwide “blanket” permit to build pipelines through wetlands and streams. Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana had ruled that the permit was invalid because the Corps failed to do cross-agency consultations required by the Endangered Species Act. The Corps has applied the permit to more than 37,000 projects since 2017, reported AP. Status: On July 6, 2020, the Supreme Court revived the Army Corps’ blanket nationwide permitting program — but excluded the Keystone pipeline. So federal environmental reviews of Keystone must be completed before construction can continue.
