Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has joined 17 other state attorneys general to sue the Biden administration over revoking the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, which has been a key infrastructure project for the Port of Little Rock and a major tenant.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen in a U.S. district court in Texas.
In addition to Rutledge, attorneys general from Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have joined the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said that President Joe Biden's "unilateral action will harm America's economy, hurt consumers, displace workers, increase our dependence on foreign energy resources, and ultimately harm the environment," Rutledge's office said in a news release Thursday.
The lawsuit also faulted the administration for failing to consult with the state before "taking an action that will have far-reaching consequences and sets a dangerous precedent that prioritizes leftists' agenda over America's economy," the news release said.
Keystone XL pipeline is a nearly 1,200-mile project intended to carry crude oil from Canada to Nebraska to connect with a pipe network to deliver the oil to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack Obama killed it in 2015 and President Donald Trump revived it four years later.
Biden pledged to kill the $8 billion project during his campaign for the White House, siding with environmentalists, climate activists and indigenous groups opposed to the project. While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed disappointment at the decision, given the cross-border project's importance to the Alberta oil fields, the matter didn't surface in public remarks after a meeting between the two leaders Feb. 23.
In response to questions, Rutledge said she is representing Arkansas pipefitters who lost work as a result of the project's cancellation. She spoke with them in person and met with them in the southwest Arkansas town of Fouke.
Rutledge also acknowledged the impact the administration decision had on Welspun Tubular LLC, a pipe manufacturer with a major facility at the Little Rock port.
"All Arkansans who were impacted by this decision, including the [pipefitters], Welspun and the anticipated increase in fuel and other costs that affect every consumer were all factors in the decision," she said.
Welspun, which has generated more revenue for the port than any other tenant in recent years, won an order last year to produce more than 1 million feet, or 190 miles, of 36-inch pipe for the Keystone XL project. It was an order that allowed Welspun to avoid a major reduction in its 600-person workforce, according to company officials.
Since Biden's decision, that work has stopped on the company's 740-acre site within the port.
Bryan Day, the port's executive director, said the project's economic impact on the community cannot be underestimated.
"The Keystone Pipeline project is directly tied to Welspun, one of the Port of Little Rock's most significant industrial partners," he said. "The project directly equates to hundreds of local jobs and tens of millions of dollars to the local community."
It also was helping the port's bottom line.
"The Port of Little Rock would also benefit from the project through the movement of barges and rail cars, generating revenues that would allow us the ability to continue growing and attracting new industry," Day said. "I personally believe that fossil fuels are not going away and pipelines are the safest and greenest way to move oil. Without pipelines, oil will still move via truck and rail, and the potential for spills still exists."
But Day also said the lawsuit portends years of continued litigation, which won't help the local economy.
"This project has been tied up in the courts for over a decade and I wish the two sides could sit down and come up with reasonable solutions so that our local economy could reap the benefit from the project," he said.
Jay Chesshir, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, said if the lawsuit has any chance of reviving the project, it will be worth the effort.
"While not involved with the creation of the lawsuit, this is a much-needed legal review to determine the validity of this administration's actions and its costly impact on our national economy and national security," he said.