May 11 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Monday ruled largely in favor of upholding an earlier court's decision to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from using a fast-track approval permit to construct the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline without conducting new analysis of its environmental impact.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Morris upholds an April 15 decision in support of a coalition of conservation and landowner groups who challenged the U.S. Army Corps, TC Energy, the state of Montana and American Gas Association over the Trump administration's approval of Nationwide Permit 12, a blanket approval for construction of similar projects concerning water crossings.