Following the Trump administration's decision to issue a presidential permit to pipeline builder TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline last week, a lawsuit has been filed to block construction.

Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in federal court in Montana to challenge the permit and related environmental reviews and approvals for Keystone XL.

“The Bold Alliance is proud to stand with the millions of people our organizations represent in this challenge to the State Department’s flawed approval process for the KXL pipeline," Ken Winston, Legal Counsel of the Bold Alliance, said. "We stand for the rule of law and protection of the air, the lifegiving water and land that sustains us. We stand against eminent domain for private gain. KXL still has no legal route through Nebraska; TransCanada has the burden to prove their proposed route is in the public interest. We do not believe they will be able to meet that burden.”

After signing the presidential permit last week, President Trump said, "It's a great day for American jobs and a historic moment for North America and energy independence. This announcement is part of a new era of American energy policy that will lower costs for American families and very significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create thousands of jobs right here in America."

The State Department says that it determined that building Keystone serves the U.S. national interest. That's the opposite conclusion to the one the State Department reached during the Obama administration.

The State Department says it considered foreign policy and energy security in making the determination.

The permit was signed by Tom Shannon, a career diplomat serving as undersecretary of state for political affairs. That's because Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recused himself due to his previous work running Exxon Mobil.

Keystone will carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.