Biden revokes Keystone XL permit, Canada disappointed

US President Joe Biden has formally revoked the permit needed to finish the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a years-long project that would have carried oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to the American Gulf Coast.

Biden’s action Wednesday on his first day in office marks the second time a Democratic administration has scuttled the $8 billion project in less than a decade.

It came as part of a series of executive orders that included revoking “permits signed over the past 4 years that do not serve the US national interest, including revoking the Presidential permit granted to the Keystone XL pipeline.”

Keystone XL, which is part of the Keystone oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States commissioned in 2010, was rejected by President Barack Obama in 2015, but revived by his successor Donald Trump two years later. 

Trump’s decision prompted several environmental groups to sue the US government over concerns about the potential negative impacts of the oil pipeline, mainly the risk of oil spills along the pipeline’s route.

Biden’s decision came in spite of pleas to him from several Canadian government officials to give them time to make their case for the pipeline, which they contend has significantly changed for the better, environmentally, over the past 10 years.

Biden, who served as vice president when Obama rejected the project, had long pledged to scrap the permit granted by Trump.

“While we welcome the President’s commitment to fight climate change, we are disappointed but acknowledge the President’s decision to fulfill his election campaign promise on Keystone XL,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who earlier this week said he would take legal action if the project was scrapped, said on Wednesday he was “deeply disturbed” by the action.

“This is a gut punch for the Canadian and Alberta economies. Sadly it is an insult directed at the United States’ most important ally and trading partner,” Kenney told a news conference.

Also, oil industry groups that supported the project criticized the Biden move.

"Killing 10,000 jobs and taking $2.2 billion in payroll out of workers' pockets is not what Americans need or want right now," said Andy Black, president and CEO of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines.

TC Energy, the pipeline's developer, said in a statement that that "advancement of the project will be suspended" and that the firm will likely take a hit to its earnings during the first quarter.

SS