Green groups sue Trump administration for approving Keystone pipeline

Six environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday to challenge its decision to approve construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

The groups told a federal court in Montana that the State Department, which granted the permit needed for the pipeline to cross the Canadian-U.S. border, relied on an "outdated and incomplete environmental impact statement" when making its decision earlier this month.

By approving the pipeline without public input and an up-to-date environmental assessment, the administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the groups said in their legal filing.

"They have relied on an arbitrary, stale, and incomplete environmental review completed over three years ago, for a process that ended with the State Department’s denial of a cross-border permit," the court filing says.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the presidential permit for the Keystone XL at the White House last week, with pipeline company TransCanada Corp's Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling and Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Building Trades Unions, standing nearby.

Trump said the project would lower consumer fuel prices, create jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Predecessor former President Barack Obama rejected the pipeline because it would lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)