The Biden administration published a congressionally mandated report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) this week, highlighting the economic benefits that the nation could have reaped via the Keystone XL Pipeline — a project whose federal permits were revoked by President Joe Biden early in his tenure.
Biden's actions on the permits effectively brought the expansive project to a halt. The report from late December estimates that a working pipeline would have been worth plenty: some $9.6 billion in economic benefits, along with nearly 60,000 jobs.
"The Biden administration finally owned up to what we have known all along — killing the Keystone XL Pipeline cost good-paying jobs, hurt Montana's economy and was the first step in the Biden administration's war on oil and gas production in the United States," said Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., in a Thursday statement. He lamented what he described as a a squandering of rich economic opportunity and a staggering loss for working families.
"Unfortunately, the administration continues to pursue energy production anywhere but the United States. These policies may appeal to the woke left but hurt Montana's working families," he said. "I'll keep fighting back against Biden's anti-energy agenda and supporting Montana energy projects and jobs."
Via social media Tuesday, Daines also tweeted, "This overreaching rule from the Biden admin is a step in the wrong direction that infringes on the rights of Montana farmers, ranchers and landowners."
Daines and Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, helped push Biden's Energy Department to release the report findings, which had been folded into the passing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The department had been was obligated to publish the Keystone XL Pipeline report within 90 days of the bill's passage, but for reasons unknown, the agency waited this long for the release.
If President Donald Trump had prevailed in the 2020 election, the Keystone XL Pipeline might have reached its completion in January 2022. TC Energy estimates an "additional 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada" would have been pumped into the U.S.
According to reports, TC Energy signed an agreement with four labor unions in August 2020, and subsequently pledged to create 42,000 American jobs — with total wages approaching $2 billion.
In June 2021, however, TC Energy scrapped the project after months of contesting the Biden administration's permit revocation.
"The Department of Energy finally admitted to the worst-kept secret about the Keystone Pipeline: President Biden's decision to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline sacrificed thousands of American jobs," Risch said Thursday.
The senator continued, "To make matters worse, his decision moved the U.S. further away from energy independence and lower gas prices at a time when inflation and gas prices are drastically impacting Americans' pocketbooks.
"The president must turn to American-made energy and jobs rather than dictators and despots to fix the energy crisis he created on his first day in office," added Risch.
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