Wisconsin GOP Congressional Delegation: Keystone XL Letter to Biden

From: WisPolitics.com

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congressmen Glenn Grothman (WI-06), Mike Gallagher (WI-08), Bryan Steil (WI-01), Tom Tiffany (WI-07) and Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) sent a letter to President Joe Biden expressing their support for completion of the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Keystone XL pipeline would transport 830,000 barrels of oil per day, support 11,000 U.S. jobs and lower the price of gas at the pump. TC Energy, the company responsible for operating the pipeline, has also pledged that the Keystone XL pipeline would be carbon-neutral by the year 2023. Despite this, and pushback from Jason Kenney, Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta where the pipeline begins, Biden has chosen to abandon the project and these benefits.

The Keystone pipeline system is currently made up of four phases that have been completed in steps since 2010, phase 1, 2, 3a and 3b. Construction of the final phase, commonly known as Keystone XL, was halted by the Obama administration, restarted by the Trump administration and will be again shut down by the Biden administration.

“Joe Biden ran his campaign with the promise to govern as a moderate, but he has broken that promise on the first day of his Presidency with the radical step of shutting down construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,” said Grothman. “With the stroke of his pen, he has stifled 11,000 high-paying jobs, further reduced the amount of oil imported into the U.S. and has cancelled the hope of gas prices going down at the pump. This is a sad day for working Americans and a sad day for those who believed they voted for a moderate President.”

“The Keystone pipeline would support thousands of good-paying jobs and generate billions of dollars in economy activity,” said Rep. Gallagher. “Halting construction of this project not only hurts our economy, but undermines American energy independence and drives up costs for working-class Americans. This is a step in the wrong direction and I urge the Biden Administration to reconsider.”

“So much for unifying the American people. In his first hours in office, President Biden has destroyed thousands of good-paying jobs, including many in Wisconsin, by halting the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. This construction project would help grow jobs in Wisconsin and support our communities. Instead of working to create family-supporting jobs, Biden is spending his first day eliminating jobs,” said Steil.

“President Biden’s decision to rip up the Keystone permit on the first day of his term is a rejection of bipartisanship, a slap in the face to Wisconsin employers and workers who rely on this project for their livelihoods, and our friends in Canada, particularly their indigenous community,” said Rep. Tom Tiffany. “The president is putting American energy security and thousands of family-wage jobs at risk at a time when we can least afford it.”

“The coronavirus pandemic has devastated our economy and countless Americans have been put out of work by onerous mandated shutdowns. President Biden has an opportunity to signal that access to good-paying jobs is truly a priority for his administration, by reconsidering his decision to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,” said Fitzgerald.