To appease far left, Biden kills jobs and insults top ally

TC Energy applied for a permit more than a dozen years ago.

Keystone XL/Facebook

President Joe Biden issued a myriad of executive orders during his first 24 hours in office, perhaps none more disturbing than revoking Keystone XL pipeline’s permit.

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote Thursday, “This is a slap at Canada, and it sends a message to investors that playing by U.S. rules provides no immunity from arbitrary political whim.”

TC Energy, the company set to build the oil pipeline, will now cut thousands of good-paying jobs after Biden crushed the project. In an email sent to employees, the Calgary-based company said it will eliminate over 1,000 jobs in the upcoming weeks. TC applied for a permit more than a dozen years ago.

According to the Keystone website, the project would sustain about 11,000 American jobs overall in 2021 — 8,000 of those union — and generate $1.6 billion in gross wages. The 1,200-mile pipeline would have shipped 830,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to southern Nebraska, and then to refineries along the Gulf Coast.

It is unclear how the Biden administration plans to address the jobs lost by cancelling this massive infrastructure project.

At Real Clear Energy, Daniel Turner called the move, “a gift to our adversaries: for who will benefit when America and Canada can’t bring their fossil fuels to market? The competition. Russia and Venezuela will be thrilled to know their market share will increase thanks to the Biden Administration’s fumble.”

Unlike Iran, Russia or Venezuela, Canada is a responsible country and the third-largest exporter of crude oil in the world and almost all of it comes to the United States.

Biden’s decision to nix the “controversial” project follows years of opposition from well-funded urban progressives and environmental fanatics, who claim it’s a setback for our “transition to cleaner energy.”

A group of Republican senators plan to introduce legislation allowing construction to continue. But since the party does not control the Senate, the effort likely is futile.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized Biden on Thursday for taking “several big steps in the wrong direction” on his first day in office.

“This was not the Day One that American workers deserved,” the Kentucky Republican said. “It’s still early. There’s still plenty of time for President Biden to remember that he does not owe his election to the far left.”

Even the Barack Obama State Department found five separate times the pipeline would have no material impact on greenhouse gas emissions since crude would still be extracted. Pipelines are safer than trains, trucks and barges that Democrats apparently prefer.

Still, the project first lost its permit under Obama, though regained it in 2017, courtesy of Donald Trump.

Symbolically to appease the Green Lobby, Biden yanked Keystone’s permit and rejoined the toothless Paris Accords the same evening. Neither action will affect the climate. Everyone loses.

Facts show the U.S. has led the world in energy-related emissions reductions for at least 15 years, including in the most recent annual reports. This comes as natural gas from shale hydraulic fracturing replaces coal in power production. China’s Paris commitment doesn’t require it to cut emissions for another decade. Russia’s emissions have risen for years, too.

Biden and the global climate cult seem insouciant to the world’s worst polluters or “restoring alliances” with our long-time friends to the north.

 

A.J. Kaufman

A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.