(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) — Washington D.C. — The U.S. Department of State (State Department) has been “illegally” stashing away key documents pertaining to the slated path of the Keystone XL Pipeline (KXL) for years, while concealing contracts the Department entered into with private consultants, opponents of KXL said on Thursday in a legal action. The allegations were levied by non-profit conservation group the Center for Biological Diversity (the Center), and Thomas Bachand, creator of the Keystone Mapping Project, in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. on May 18, 2017.

Since 2012, the plaintiffs have submitted “numerous” Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, according to the suit. The court filing alleges that the State Department “is unlawfully withholding information.”

“The Keystone XL GIS [location] data is referenced tens of thousands of times in the State Department’s environmental review, yet the data itself is fully redacted,” Bachand said in a statement. “State Department officials claim they do not have the data, but if that’s the case then how can they have possibly considered its environmental consequences? The truth is that the State Department unquestionably possesses and controls this critical information.”

“We can’t fully understand Keystone XL’s threats to our water and wildlife until the Trump Administration releases public documents about this dangerous pipeline’s route,” said Amy Atwood, the Center’s Endangered Species Legal Director, in a press release. “With the State Department illegally refusing to provide information about a leak-prone pipeline that could pollute hundreds of waterways, we’re left with no option but to sue.”

The hotly contested project, which was first proposed in 2008, appeared to be dead when the Obama Administration formally denied a permit for construction on Nov. 6, 2015. Two months after taking office, President Donald Trump rescinded that decision and granted the permit on March 24, 2017.

Native Americans call the pipeline the “black snake” and oppose the project out of fear of what a leak could do to water sources along its route – including the giant Ogallala Aquifer – a water source spanning eight states and providing potable H2O to millions of Americans. During the eight-year battle against the pipeline, some ranchers and landowners joined the protest as well, and environmental groups sought legal remedies to prevent construction.

With Trump’s controversial green-light executive order, the fight has been reignited. In Nebraska, 90 farmers and landowners are taking their argument to the state’s Public Service Commission. Environmentalists and Native Americans in Montana have sued to stop construction. And in South Dakota, Republican farmers are fighting back as well.

John Harter, a cattle rancher in South Dakota, told The Guardian in a video, “You have a company like TransCanada come in and tell you that they are going to take your land and use it to make millions of dollars with it and virtually pay you nothing for it.”

Ironically, TransCanada, the Canadian-based company behind the project, isn’t even sure oil companies still want or need the Keystone XL line. Market conditions have changed since the pipeline was first proposed, and producers now have the option of shipping through the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which is scheduled to enter service on June 1. But all that doesn’t alleviate the concerns of those opposing it.

OTHER TOP ENVIRONEWS REPORTS ON KEYSTONE XL, DAKOTA ACCESS, AND OTHER OIL PIPELINES:

Native American and Environmental Orgs Sue Trump Admin Over Keystone XL Pipeline Permit (EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – Washington D.C. – On Monday, March 27, 2017, the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and North Coast Rivers Alliance (NCRA) filed a lawsuit challenging the State Department’s approval of a Presidential Permit to construct and open the Keystone XL Pipeline (KXL). If completed,…

Apache, Comanche Win in Federal Court: Company Ordered to Remove Oil Pipeline and Vacate (EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – Cado County, Oklahoma – On March 28, 2017, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma ordered the natural gas pipeline company Enable Midstream Partners (Enable) to remove a pipeline running through tribal lands. The land…

Historic Keystone XL Protest Spurs Hope for Environmental Movement While Activists Battle On (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – The debate against the Keystone Pipeline heated up this past weekend as two traditionally opposed groups came together in an effort to defeat a project that threatens aquifers, sacred lands, and frankly, all life on Earth. The Cowboy and Indian Alliance formed a…

Neil Young on Climate Change, Keystone XL and Tar Sands at the Cowboy and Indian Alliance in DC (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – This interview with legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Neil Young was taped live on April, 26 2014 at the Cowboy and Indian Alliance in Washington, D.C. The event sought to pressure President Barack Obama to reject the construction of the…

Daryl Hannah and Winona LaDuke on Tar Sands, Keystone XL and Fukushima at the Cowboy and Indian Alliance (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – In this interview, famed celebrity actress and activist Daryl Hannah was interviewed alongside renowned Native American activist, former Green Party vice presidential candidate and economist Winona LaDuke by EnviroNews USA Editor-in-Chief Emerson Urry. The dynamic duo attended the Cowboy and Indian Alliance “Reject…

North American Oil CEO Admits Tar Sands and the Keystone XL Pipeline are Bad Ideas (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – “It never worked before, I seriously doubt if it’ll work now!” These were the words uttered by this mysterious oil and gas CEO of 20 years regarding tar sands in the United States in general. When we asked him about the Kyestone XL…

Donald Trump Says He’d ‘Immediately Approve Keystone XL’ While Holding TransCanada Stock (EnviroNews World News) – Donald Trump reiterated via the Twittersphere last week that he would “immediately approve the Keystone XL Pipeline” is he is elected president. Is anyone surprised? If I am elected President I will immediately approve the Keystone XL pipeline. No impact on environment & lots…

Ding Dong The Pipeline’s Dead: Sec. Kerry Kills Keystone XL Pipeline Once and For All (EnviroNews World News) – On the morning of November 6, 2015, President Barack Obama stood before the media in Washington D.C. to express his support for the State Department’s most recent decision – an all-out rejection of the proposed fourth and final leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline….

BREAKING NEWS: Keystone XL Pipeline Dead (For Now) – TransCanada Pulls Plug on Application Process (EnviroNews World News) – EnviroNews World News ascertained late this evening, on November 2, 2015, that TransCanada has made a request with the U.S. Government to suspended it’s permit application for the fourth and final leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline – a project intended to carry some…

Diamond Pipeline Company Admits The Massive Project Will Only Create 15 Permanent Jobs (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – Jobs, jobs, jobs – that’s about all anyone ever heard from supporters of the Keystone XL Pipeline before that project went down in flames at the hands of the State Department earlier this year. Opponents continuously pushed back that Keystone XL would have…

Attack Dogs and Pepper Spray Deployed on Native American ‘Protectors’ in Dakota Access Pipeline Fight (EnviroNews World News) – Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, North Dakota – Pepper spray filled the air and attack dogs were deployed as protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline Project (DAPL) turned violent on Saturday September 4, on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Native American activists representing dozens of…

What’s The Big Deal About Pipelines? (Oh Right) – Explosive Pipeline Video Blows Up Online (EnviroNews World News) – A video posted by the Facebook page ‘The Other 98%’ has gone viral – actually, it’s blown up (pun intended) – just like all the ruptured, exploding, flaming pipelines featured in the 22 second film. As of September 19, the video has gathered up…

Neil Young Takes Stand on Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) With New ‘Indian Givers’ Music Video (EnviroNews World News) – It’s no secret, legendary rocker Neil Young is all about phasing out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, but his new music video titled, “Indian Givers,” is sure to reinforce Young’s eco-friendly legacy even further. The song is in response to the recent upheaval…

Colorado: Chevron Oil Pipeline Spill Contaminates Stinking Water Creek Tributary Killing Wildlife (EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – Rangely, Colorado – Chevron Company dumped an estimated 4,800 gallons of light crude from an oil pipeline into an unnamed tributary of Stinking Water Creek near Rangely Colorado. A breach in the six-inch oil pipeline was first noticed by a company consultant…

Arrest Warrant Issued For Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! After Her Kick-Ass Reporting on Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – The award-winning team at Democracy Now! has announced that an arrest warrant has been issued in North Dakota for host and Executive Producer Amy Goodman. The show reports its celebrated anchor is being charged with criminal trespass – a misdemeanor offense. The warrant…

Lakota Sioux Tribe Invokes ‘Bad Men’ Treaty Clause Over Keystone Pipeline – Demands Feds Remove TransCanada (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – Lower Brule, Lower Brule Indian Reservation, South Dakota – The Oceti Sakowin, or Great Sioux Nation as it known in English, pressed on in its fight against the Keystone Pipeline this week. In a press release dated April 29, 2015, the Lower Brule…

First Nations Tribal Land Not For Sale – Lax Kw’alaams Band Rejects Billion Dollar Offer on Pipeline Deal (EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – Port Simpson, British Columbia – In a decision that will undoubtedly inspire people around the world, the Lax Kw’alaams Band of First Nations natives in British Columbia, Canada have rejected a billion dollar offer to sell out to the interests of big multi-national…

Massive Transneft Pipeline Rupture Sets Moscow River Ablaze (EnviroNews World News) – Moscow, Russia – Take a look at the dramatic videos in this article and witness giant black pillars of smoke, billowing 300 feet into Moscow’s air, while below on the Moskva River, a fuel-fed fire burns red-hot on the water’s surface. The explosion occurred…

Obama Promises New Lake Michigan Marine Reserve (But What About the Tar Sands Pipeline There?) (EnviroNews World News) – Washington D.C. – On October 5, 2015, President Barack Obama notified the public of his intention to set aside American waters for two new marine life reserves – one in the tidal waters of Maryland – the other in Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan. Obama made…

PetroPeru Using Indigenous Children to Clean up Oil Spill Threatening Amazon River (EnviroNews World News) – Nazareth, Peru – Two large oil pipeline spills have been reported in Peru near the boarder of Ecuador since late January of 2016. Viscous black crude has made its way into the headwaters of the mighty Amazon River, and more threatens to do so…

Tesoro Shelves Utah Oil Pipeline Plan Indefinitely Blaming Market Conditions (EnviroNews Utah) – Roosevelt, Utah – San Antonio refining giant Tesoro Corporation announced last week that it will be shelving its plan for a 135-mile-long oil pipeline that had been in the works for several years, citing “unfavorable market conditions.” Fuelfix reported Destin Singleton, company spokesman wrote, “due…