US sued over Keystone XL Pipeline

SUBHEAD: It's outrageous that TransCanada is already clearing the way for the Keystone XL pipeline before it's okayed.

 By Rachel Cernansky on 5 October 2011 for TreeHugger - 
(http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/environmental-groups-sue-us-government-stop-keystone-xl.php)

 
Image above: Protest in front of White House aqainst Keystone XL Pipeline. From (http://inhabitat.com/protests-continue-against-the-proposed-1700-mile-keystone-xl-tar-sands-pipeline/tar-sands-protest-2/).
 
Despite the fact that the project has not been approved yet, and despite nearly universal opposition (with the exception of the State Department), work on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has actually already begun.

Today, a coalition of environmental groups sued the U.S. State Department and Fish & Wildlife Service to stop that work: the clearing of grasslands, the moving of threatened species, and other work they say TransCanada is doing illegally in advance of the proposed $7 billion pipeline.


Reuters reports that the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Nebraska Resources Council and
Friends of the Earth filed the suit [PDF] in the U.S. District Court in Nebraska.

More from Reuters:
"It's outrageous that TransCanada is already clearing the way for the Keystone XL pipeline before the public has had a chance to have its say and, indeed, before federal agencies have even said it can be built," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The groups say the State Department and the Fish and Wildlife Service have quietly allowed TransCanada to do the work, including mowing a corridor of native prairie grasslands in Nebraska's ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region.
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