Tribes say Trump illegally approved oil pipeline from Canada

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Native American tribes in Montana and South Dakota say the Trump administration unlawfully approved the Keystone XL oil pipeline without fully considering its potential damage to cultural sites.

Attorneys for the Fort Belknap and Rosebud Sioux tribes sued the U.S. State Department Monday, asking a court to rescind the line’s permit.

The tribes argue President Donald Trump ignored the rights of tribes when he reversed a prior decision by President Barack Obama and approved the project last year.

The $8 billion TransCanada Corporation pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude daily from Canada to Nebraska. It would pass through the ancestral homelands of the Rosebud Sioux in central South Dakota and the Fort Belknap tribes in Montana.

State Department representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.