GOP Sen. Steve Daines stated on Thursday (in response to a new Energy Department analysis documenting how Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline harmed the U.S. economy and its civilians) that the Biden administration eventually admitted everyone already was thinking.
Mass Job Loss
The paper, entitled “Keystone XL Extension Permit Revocation: Energy Costs and Job Impacts,” satisfies a provision effectively added by Senators Daines and Risch to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The paper states the analysis is in response to section 40434(b) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. No. 117-58).
This mandates that the Secretary of Energy must calculate the mass layoffs and market impacts relating to the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline license.
According to analyses referenced in the Energy Department study, President Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline development had the following adverse effects:
- Loss of up to 59,468 jobs each year
- Loss of up to $9.6 billion in GDP (2011 dollars)
- Loss of up to $20.93 billion in business sales (2011 dollars)
- Up to $6.5 billion in reduced earned income (current dollars) and up to $54,651 per job each year in missed personal income
Mr President how is that going to help? You call it a Putin Price hike but take some responsibility for cutting the supply of energy and cancelling the Keystone pipeline, you have members of your own party saying that was a huge mistake sir.
— scotsmak (@scotsmak) April 13, 2022
In his response, Sen. Daines stated the Biden administration eventually accepted what we’ve understood all along.
Canceling the Keystone XL project lost very well-paying jobs, harmed Montana’s economy, and was the initial move in the Biden administration’s attack on oil and natural gas manufacturing in America.
Sen. Risch concurred in a remark, saying the Department of Energy confirmed the worst hidden secret regarding the Keystone Pipeline: President Biden’s choice to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline cost thousands of American jobs.
Risch continued to say that to make things worse, his decisions drove the United States farther away from energy independence and cheaper fuel costs at a period when inflation and gasoline prices are having a significant effect on Americans’ wallets.
According to the report, President Biden issued an executive order to stop the Keystone XL pipeline project as it was inconsistent with his environmental goal.
Biden Admin Finally Admits Cancelling Keystone Pipeline Killed Thousands of Jobshttps://t.co/UPPKdCPEHs
— The Daily Fetched (@DailyFetched) January 6, 2023
President Biden released Executive Order 13990, Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Address the Climate Crisis, on January 20, 2021.
In section 6 of the Order, President Biden declared that the KXL pipeline disserves the U.S. national interest because its development and operation would not be compatible with U.S. climate targets.
It also would weaken U.S. leadership in the international energy and environmental arenas. The Presidential Permit to build, run, service, and link the pipeline at the U.S.-Canada border was cancelled by Section 6(a) of the Order.
Biden Changes His Mind
In his executive order, Biden stated, that keeping the Keystone XL pipeline project in effect wouldn’t be compatible with his administration’s economic and climatic imperatives.
Nevertheless, according to an independent assessment cited in the paper, the pipeline could not only produce an instant boost in building jobs, but it would also increase the security of crude oil reserves and the effectiveness of their distribution.
