John Jefferson
President Donald Trump turned his attention to the Keystone XL Pipeline on Monday evening, calling for the company building it to “come back to America, and get it built — NOW!”
Trump said he was “just thinking” about how construction on the pipeline was “viciously jettisoned by the incompetent Biden Administration,” and promised things are different now under his leadership.
“I know they were treated very badly by Sleepy Joe Biden, but the Trump Administration is very different — Easy approvals, almost immediate start! If not them, perhaps another Pipeline Company. We want the Keystone XL Pipeline built!”
The pipeline has been at the forefront of political debate since the project began construction in 2010, and was eventually halted by former President Barack Obama before it was finished. Trump revived it during his first term.
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However, former President Joe Biden ordered the pipeline cancelation via executive order on his first day in office in January 2021, leading to thousands of job losses.
TC Energy, the operator of the Keystone XL pipeline, ultimately gave up on the project in June 2021 as a result of Biden’s decision to cancel its federal permits.
Then, in 2023, a federal judge tossed a legal challenge from nearly two dozen states asking the court to reinstate the pipeline’s permits.
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The pipeline had been scheduled to be completed in early 2023 and would transport an additional 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the U.S. through an existing pipeline network, according to TC Energy. It was also projected to create thousands of jobs, many of which would have been union jobs.
In December 2022, the Biden administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) published a report that said the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and would have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4 and $9.6 billion, citing various studies.
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“Joe Biden’s action cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars and every American family is still paying more every day,” Daniel Turner, the founder and executive director of Power the Future, shared with Fox News Digital in a previous statement.
The system was designed to carry oil from Alberta to states like Illinois, Texas and Oklahoma.
In January, Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, Canada, said that she was interested in talking to the Trump administration about potentially reopening the pipeline project.
“Restarting the Keystone XL pipeline aligns with President Trump’s agenda to lower food and energy costs by bolstering North American energy infrastructure and reducing reliance on costly imports,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute (AEI), previously told Fox News Digital.
Another expert said that Trump will likely face litigation if he chooses to proceed with construction of the pipeline, but that Congress could help limit legal action.
Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected]
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