President Joe Biden prepares to sign a series of executive orders in the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2021.
This week, 14 state attorneys general asked President Biden to reconsider his decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit, warning that the move has caused serious economic harm and that they will take legal action.
The action was initiated by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. In a letter to Biden on Tuesday (Feb. 9), the attorneys general of the 14 Republican states said, “We are appalled by your unilateral and hasty decision to revoke the 2019, presidentially-approved pipeline permit.”
The attorneys general said the cancellation of the pipeline was a decision that “caused serious economic harm to states, communities, families and workers across the country,” and they urged Biden to reconsider reinstating the permit while warning that they are “reviewing the legal options available.”
In the letter, Knudsen denounced Biden’s decision to revoke the permits as a symbolic, virtue signaling act with little real impact that does nothing to achieve his stated goal of protecting Americans and the domestic economy from harmful climate impacts.
“The real-world costs (when permits are revoked) are devastating.” Knutson said, “Across the country, your decision will eliminate thousands of good-paying jobs, many of which are union (members’) jobs.”
The Keystone XL pipeline project will provide 42,100 jobs in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas and is expected to create about 3,900 direct jobs over the course of one to two years of construction, according to a 2014 State Department report.
When the pipeline is operational, operations will require about 50 U.S. employees, including 35 permanent employees and 15 temporary contractors, the State Department said.
Construction of Keystone XL will contribute about $3.4 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product, while the pipeline will also provide tax revenue to local and state governments, according to estimates from the National Regulatory Research Institute to the State Department. Property taxes generated by the project will generate about $55.6 million in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
Knutson said that by cutting the pipeline, “Montana will lose the benefits of future easements and leases, and several local counties will lose their largest property taxpayers. the loss of economic activity and tax revenue from Keystone XL is particularly devastating because five of the six counties affected are impoverished areas.”
Biden had claimed in canceling the permit that the pipeline would do little to benefit the nation’s energy security and economy and said it would undermine the government’s efforts to combat climate change.
In his Jan. 20 executive order, Biden wrote: “In 2015, after an exhaustive review, the State Department and the President determined that approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline was not in the national interest of the United States.”
“The analysis, in addition to concluding that the proposed pipeline is of limited significance to our nation’s energy security and economy, underscores the need for the United States to prioritize the development of a clean energy economy and, in turn, the creation of good jobs.”
“The analysis further concludes that approving the proposed pipeline would undermine U.S. climate leadership by weakening U.S. credibility and influence in urging other countries to take ambitious climate action.” Biden added that “it is imperative to put the world on a sustainable climate path to protect Americans and the domestic economy from harmful climate impacts.”
In response, Knudsen countered in his letter that Biden did not explain how “killing the Keystone XL pipeline project would directly advance the goal of ‘protecting Americans and the domestic economy from harmful climate impacts,'” and that Biden’s decision did not “actually cure any of the climate ills he himself mentioned.”
Knutson said, “So only one reasonable speculation remains: this is a symbolic moral act addressed to special interests and the international community.”
The Keystone XL pipeline project was first proposed in 2008, but ran into trouble during the Obama administration. Revived by President Trump (D-N.Y.), the project has received the support of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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