GOP bill would reauthorize Keystone XL Pipeline

FPI / February 4, 2021

A group of 85 Republicans have introduced a bill that would reauthorize the Keystone XL pipeline.

In one of his first executive orders, Joe Biden canceled the construction of the pipeline and put 11,000 people, mostly members of unions, out of work.

Sponsors of the Keystone XL Pipeline Construction and Jobs Preservation Act, introduced in the House on Tuesday, said Biden's order was “catastrophic for American workers and families.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement that the pipeline's “impact on global climate change is negligible, but its consequences for workers, families, and energy independence are decidedly negative.”

Washington Times reporter Valerie Richardson noted that, with no Democratic co-sponsors, "the bill is unlikely to advance in the House unless it can win support from Democrats in oil-and-gas states positioned to benefit from the pipeline, which would have ultimately connected to an oil terminal in Illinois and Gulf of Mexico refineries."

Along with 11,000 high-paying pipeline jobs being eliminated, Biden also killed up to 60,000 indirect jobs along the route of the 1,179-mile pipeline extension aimed at running crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, sponsors of the legislation said.

North Dakota Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong, who sponsored the bill with South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson, called the permit cancellation “an attack on the way of life for thousands of people who rely on energy production to feed their families.”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who represents oil-and-gas hub Louisiana, accused Biden of causing “an all-out assault on American jobs” to “appease the most radical left base of his party.”

“Unfortunately, he chose to fire thousands of union workers, turn his back on our Canadian allies, and make our country more reliant on energy from countries that don’t like us, like Russia and OPEC nations,” Scalise said.

Natural Law Energy, a $1 billion Keystone investor run by five Canadian tribes, said Biden’s order would be “devastating” to Native communities.

Free Press International