The Keystone XL pipeline was one of
the items on Barack Obama’s legislative kill list. He set into motion
plans to stop the project, which was rolled out in 2017 by
then-President Trump. Outgoing President Joe Biden also set the ‘kill
the pipeline’ plan into motion again, with President-elect Trump vowing
to restart it. The tug-of-war on this massive energy project might have
reached another set, but there’s a catch—the company that was the main
force behind its construction no longer wants to build it (via Politico):
Donald Trump is looking to revive the Keystone XL oil
pipeline on his first day back in the White House, according to three
people familiar with the president-elect’s plan, even though no
companies are trying to build it anymore.
Trump believes
declaring the 1,200-mile Canada-to-Nebraska crude project back on the
table would drive the pro-oil message he delivered in his campaign, said
people involved in the transition team discussions about the idea.
Trump also wants to show he can defy President Joe Biden, who reversed
Trump’s initial 2017 approval of the project, which was strongly opposed
by the climate movement.
[…]
The pipeline’s permit to
cross the U.S.-Canadian border was first rejected in 2015 by President
Barack Obama. Trump in 2017 reversed that decision and approved the
border crossing — only to have that decision revoked by Biden in January
2021. After that, TC Energy, the pipeline’s developer, said it would no
longer pursue its construction.
Calgary-based TC Energy no longer
owns the pipeline system that the Keystone XL was intended to
complement. And the portions of the pipeline that TC Energy had put in
the ground in both Canada and the United States in anticipation of the
cross-border permit approval have been dug up. Replacing that pipe would
require any company that wants to rebuild it to again obtain local
permits for the project.
[…]
But the pro-oil message it
would send was something Trump was interested in delivering, the person
said, even if an actual pipeline didn’t materialize right away.
“Everyone
in the country knows what the KXL pipeline is,” said this person, who
was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. “It’s energy.
It’s infrastructure. It’s construction.”
Yeah, that’s the thing: the people who say this project is back on
the table are anonymous sources, though I would no doubt bet heavily
that Trump wants to push for this pipeline’s renewal. I’d rather he work
on deporting illegal aliens, getting the Trump tax cuts made permanent,
and rebuilding the economy, though if he must fight on several fronts
at a time, why not throw this one in there? Or at least put feelers out
there.
Regardless, much must be done quickly to undo the damage Joe Biden has done.
Trending on Townhall Videos
No comments:
Post a Comment