President Biden already, on day one, signed an executive order to halt the Keystone Pipeline.
Officials with TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, stated they were “disappointed” to learn Biden would revoke the existing presidential permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
“Advancement of the project will be suspended,” the company’s statement reads.
TC Energy officials had claimed the Keystone XL Pipeline — which has been in various stages of development and permitting for more than a decade — would eventually create 3,500 jobs in South Dakota, with these workers constructing pipeline to stretch through nine of the state’s counties: Harding, Butte, Perkins, Meade, Pennington, Haakon, Jones, Lyman and Tripp. It would have shipped Canadian tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada on a southeasterly route toward the Gulf Coast.
Late Tuesday, U.S. Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds, along with U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, all R-S.D., released a statement urging Biden not to stop Keystone.
“The completion of the Keystone XL pipeline would also yield a significant economic impact in South Dakota, especially through a portion of the $100 million in property taxes the project will generate annually. These revenues will be reinvested in our schools, rural communities, and local infrastructure,” their joint statement indicated.
Furthermore, Biden has said he wants to spend “more than $5 trillion” on clean energy initiatives, such as windmills, solar panels, hydropower and ethanol.
“Native tribes and communities are counting on the President Biden to use the same rationale he’s using to kill Keystone XL to stop all projects like it, including the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota and roll back the approval of the Dakota Access pipeline,” Oil Change International spokesman David Turnbull stated in lauding Biden’s action.
How many Native Americans will lose good paying jobs because of this action? It seems our President and Congress has no idea where and how we keep this country running.