Within hours of being sworn into office, United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order to revoke the cross-border presidential permit needed to finish the Keystone XL pipeline project.
The $8 billion pipeline would have moved up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to Nebraska.
While the permit was first rejected by President Barack Obama, it was approved by President Donald Trump in 2017.
Following Biden’s executive order, Brian P. McGuire, president and CEO of the Associated Equipment Distributors issued the following:
“AED is deeply disappointed by the Biden administration’s move to quash this important energy infrastructure project. Completion of the Keystone XL pipeline would create thousands of jobs and significant economic activity with minimal environmental impact. It was studied extensively, including by the US State Department, and each determination was that it was a safe and reliable means to transportation energy. AED strongly urges President Biden to reconsider his executive order and permit the completion of the Keystone XL pipeline.”
According to the executive order, Keystone XL is a disservice to the national interest of the United States, as the world faces a climate crisis.
“That crisis must be met with action on a scale and at a speed commensurate with the need to avoid setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic, climate trajectory. At home, we will combat the crisis with an ambitious plan to build back better, designed to both reduce harmful emissions and create good clean-energy jobs,” the executive order explains.
AED said it will continue to work with the US congress and its industry and labour allies to urge the Biden administration to reassess his executive order. Completion of the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest of both the United States and Canada and is a safe and efficient means to transport oil and further reduce North America’s reliance on energy sources from volatile regions, according to AED.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney added that the US State Departments own “exhaustive analysis” conducted under President Obama concluded that Keystone XL would actually reduce emissions, as the alternative will be to move this energy by higher emitting and less secure rail transport.
“The Government of Canada has more ambitious emissions goals than the new US Administration, and our provincial government is investing billions of dollars in the development of emissions reductions technology,” Kenney said.
“This means that Alberta, Canada and the Keystone XL pipeline are part of the solution in the energy transition.”
