20 State Attorneys General Intervene to Defend Army Corps Pipeline Permit

The attorneys general filed a motion to intervene in two lawsuits brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Waterkeeper Alliance, and the Montana Environmental Information Center against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The suits seek to invalidate Nationwide Permit 12, which allows streamlined review of pipeline crossings of rivers and wetlands.

“If NWP 12 were eliminated, pipeline construction and maintenance costs would increase, and pipeline availability would decrease,” the states wrote. “Montana and its citizens would incur increased transportation costs through the lack of pipeline access.”

The intervening states are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming, in addition to Montana. The lawsuits were filed July 22 and allege violations of the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and National Environmental Policy Act.

The AGs argue the states have protectable interests in energy infrastructure and that existing parties cannot be relied upon to represent those interests. Elimination of the permit would force individual permitting for thousands of crossings annually, delaying both new construction and repairs to existing lines.

The intervention was announced Tuesday. The motion seeks to defend the current permitting framework used for the majority of domestic pipeline water crossings.