Washington, DC — Today, Donald Trump announced that he is bypassing the cross-border permitting environmental review process and issuing a presidential permit to TransCanada to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

The pipeline is currently stalled by a federal court ruling last fall that invalidated the administration’s environmental review of the project and blocked construction. The pipeline also still has not been granted the necessary permits by the Bureau of Land Management and the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement in response:

“Donald Trump is trying to change the rules of the game because he knows he’s losing. The courts have repeatedly rejected Trump’s attempts to get this pipeline built, so now he’s shamefully attempting to bypass our bedrock environmental laws for the benefit of a foreign pipeline company. We will continue to pursue every available avenue to ensure that this pipeline is never built.”