Canada hopes to oil the wheels on the Keystone XL pipeline despite President-elect Joe Biden’s stated opposition to it.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said that he was “deeply concerned” about Biden’s plan to halt the pipeline’s construction in a tweet on Sunday and asked the president-elect to meet with Canadian officials prior to making any decisions.
“[Stopping construction] would kill jobs on both sides of the [United States-Canada] border, weaken the critically important Canada-US relationship, and undermine US national security,” he wrote. “We renew our call on the incoming administration to show respect for Canada … by keeping that commitment to engage, and to allow Canada to make the case for strengthening cooperation on energy, the environment, and the economy through this project.”
I am deeply concerned by reports that the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden may repeal the Presidential permit for the Keystone XL border crossing next week.
My full statement: pic.twitter.com/vZjun1IdMH
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) January 18, 2021
Biden takes office on Wednesday. His team has pledged to reverse the Trump administration’s green-lighting of the oil pipeline, arguing that it poses an environmental threat.
“[Biden will] proudly stand in the Roosevelt Room again, as president, and stop [the project] for good by rescinding the Keystone XL pipeline permit,” said Biden campaign policy director Stef Feldman in May.
Kenney argued that these concerns are outweighed by how failure to complete the pipeline would result in U.S. oil dependence on less environmentally conscious nations.
“[Approximately 5.44 million barrels of petroleum per day come] from countries, like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, none of whom share the commitment of Canada and the United States to environmental stewardship [or] combatting climate change,” he noted. “It is in perfect keeping with [Biden’s energy] plan that the United States energy needs should be met by a country that takes the challenges of climate change seriously.”
Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, concurred, tweeting that Biden refusing to discuss the move with its northern neighbor would be tantamount to a snub.
“He should recognize that peremptorily revoking the permit without first giving Canada a chance to make its case wouldn’t exactly send a signal renewed friendship that he has promised towards America’s closest allies,” Paris wrote.
This has been Biden’s position for a long time. Still, he should recognize that peremptorily revoking the permit without first giving Canada a chance to make its case wouldn’t exactly send a signal renewed friendship that he has promised towards America’s closest allies. https://t.co/I0NXwgcSht
— Roland Paris (@rolandparis) January 18, 2021
The Keystone XL project, a planned 2,000-mile expansion of the existing Keystone Pipeline System that would funnel oil between Canada’s Alberta province and the Texas Gulf Coast, has been in legal limbo for the better part of a decade. While the original plan was commissioned in 2010, the Obama administration halted construction under pressure from climate activists in 2015. Though the Trump administration approved permits for the pipeline, it still faced legal challenges that delayed its construction. The project would bring millions of gallons of oil to U.S. refineries and create tens of thousands of jobs.
TC Energy Corporation, the Canada-based energy company, tasked with building the Keystone XL pipeline, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
