GA Attorney General Sues Biden Over Keystone XL Pipeline

ATLANTA — Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is suing the White House to halt President Joe Biden’s executive order to terminate work on the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

Carr, a Republican, announced Wednesday evening that he would be joining 20 other state attorneys general in the law filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against the Biden administration, calling the executive order a political move that would kill jobs. The lawsuit challenges the president’s authority to halt the project.

“This decision is political symbolism that will cause real-world damage, pure and simple,” Carr said in a statement about Biden’s order. “President Biden does not have the power to overturn a permit granted by an Act of Congress, and what makes his actions even more disappointing is the complete disregard is showing for American Jobs and U.S. energy independence.”

Former President Donald Trump restarted construction on the project last year after it stalled due to push-back from environmentalists during the Obama administration. When completed, the proposed 1,200-mile pipeline would move as much as 830,000 barrels -- or 35 million gallons -- of crude oil per day from oil sand fields in western Canada to Nebraska where it would connect with other pipelines linked to oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Reviving Obama-era concerns that burning oil sands crude worsen climate change, Biden blocked the permit with his signature on Jan. 20.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.