(CNN) Twenty-one states, led by Texas and Montana, filed suit on Wednesday against President Joe Biden's decision to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline -- an effort by Republican state attorneys general to combat the new administration's efforts to address climate change. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen argued in the complaint that Congress, not Biden, has the authority to change the policy. Biden's order "cites no statutory or other authorization permitting the President to change energy policy as set by Congress in this manner," Paxton and Knudsen wrote in the complaint, arguing that "the President lacks the power to enact his 'ambitious plan' to reshape the economy in defiance of Congress's unwillingness to do so." Bringing the suit on "behalf of many of the States through which Keystone XL runs," they're joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in challenging Biden's move. Biden revoked the permit for the pipeline on his first day in office through executive action as part of a series of moves aimed at combating climate change, which also included rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change and placing a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic.

Source: CNN March 18, 2021 00:45 UTC