Keystone XL: Judge orders Trump Administration to produce documents

February 21, 2018: Sierra Club, along with co-plaintiff environmental groups, secured a federal court ruling in their ongoing lawsuit challenging the approval of Keystone XL, which requires the US State Department to produce documents regarding the Trump Administration’s approval of the pipeline early last year. Agencies are required to provide all documents they relied on in reaching a decision, which are crucial for the court to determine whether the agency complied with the law. The State Department omitted thousands of documents that it deemed either unimportant or privileged, and argued compiling them would expend too much time and resources. Following plaintiffs’ motion and an oral argument, Judge Brian Morris ordered the State Department to produce the initial batch of documents by March 21. The court will hear oral arguments on the merits of the case later in the spring.