Earth Protect Blog

The Biden administration has defended a contentious pipeline project that would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil through Minnesota’s delicate watersheds, urging in a court brief that a challenge brought by local tribes and environmental groups be thrown out.

The closely watched filing in federal court was the latest in a series of actions taken by the administration to back Trump-era approvals of oil and gas infrastructure, despite President Joe Biden’s pledge to cut emissions aggressively from fossil fuels, a major driver of climate change. The pipeline, known as Line 3 and being built by Canadian company Enbridge Energy, has been the focus of mass protests in recent weeks.

Biden still could decide to withdraw the federal permits that the pipeline depends upon for construction to proceed.