Biden Revokes Permit for Keystone XL Pipeline - Do You Agree With the Move?

What’s the story?

• President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued an executive order to revoke the permit for further construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. 
• Keystone XL is the name of a partially constructed, $8 billion extension of an existing Keystone pipeline that transports oil from Alberta, Canada, to Illinois and Texas. The Keystone XL route would run from Alberta through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. 
• The Keystone XL pipeline sparked fierce protests from environmentalists who argue it would hurt the ecology of the Sandhills region of Nebraska and potentially endanger the Ogallala Aquifer through spills, deepen America’s reliance on fossil fuel, and undermine efforts to reduce climate change.
• Advocates of the Keystone XL pipeline argue that revoking the pipeline permit will hurt the U.S. economy through higher energy prices and the elimination of about 11,000 jobs, including 8,000 union jobs, and lead to a loss of roughly $1.6 billion in wages. 
• The Obama administration stymied the Keystone XL project, while the Trump administration reversed the policy and made moves to support its construction. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court declined to reverse a ruling that put construction of the first U.S. phase of the Keystone XL pipeline in Montana and South Dakota on hold pending an environmental review.
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement that expressed his “disappointment” that Biden revoked the Keystone XL permit, while Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said it will “kill jobs on both sides of the border” and make the U.S. “more dependent on OPEC oil imports.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: jasonwoodhead23 via Flickr / Creative Commons)