US State Department Sued over Permit Approval for "Alberta Clipper" Tar Sands Oil Pipeline

Four environmental and Native American advocacy groups have filed suit challenging the US State Department’s August approval of Enbridge Energy’s plans to build the Alberta Clipper tar sands pipeline. The pipeline would pump 450,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day from northern Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin for refining. In their complaint, the plaintiff groups claim that the State Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to adequately analyze the indirect and cumulative impacts of the proposed pipeline. They further argue that the State Department’s approval was unconstitutional because Congress has not fully delegated its authority to regulate pipelines to the Executive Branch. Plaintiffs have requested preliminary and permanent injunctions to halt the construction of the pipeline.

The Alberta Clipper pipeline is planned to stretch 384 miles in the United States, running through Minnesota’s Chippewa National Forest and its Leech Lake tribal lands. Plaintiffs allege that the construction would impact over 200 water bodies and would destroy more than 1,200 acres of upland forested lands, more than 650 acres of open lands, and more than 1,300 acres of wetlands.

By approving the pipeline, the plaintiff groups allege that the State Department is overlooking the serious environmental, climate, and human health impacts of tar sands oil, the production of which results in three times more greenhouse gas emissions than that of conventional crude oil. Tar sands oil also contains eleven times more sulfur and nickel, six times more nitrogen, and five times more lead than conventional oil. Plaintiffs claim the approval decision is a departure from the Obama administration’s commitment to clean energy.

"This project will lock our nation into a dirty energy infrastructure for decades to come," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. "Instead of increasing our reliance on oil and piping in pollution, the State Department should support clean, American energy and the jobs that come with it."

The complaint was filed on September 3, 2009 in the US District Court for Northern California. The suit names Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Deputy Secretary James Steinberg and the US Army Corps of Engineers as Defendants. The plaintiff groups are The Indigenous Environmental Network, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club. Plaintiffs are represented by the non-profit law firm Earthjustice.