Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) did not respond to a Breitbart News request for comment on how President Joe Biden’s decision to halt the ongoing construction of the $9 billion cross-border Keystone XL pipeline is causing thousands of workers to lose their job, including in Kansas.
The media inquiry came after the GOP pointed out the hypocrisy of claiming to support American workers by creating jobs while supporting policies experts say kill jobs.
The Associated Press (AP) reported on the Biden administration’s push to crush fossil fuel production in the U.S. to please environmentalists opposed to oil and gas development want the federal government to invest in wind, solar and other alternative energy:
The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Keystone XL President Richard Prior said over 1,000 jobs, the majority unionized, will be eliminated in the coming weeks. First proposed in 2008, the pipeline has become emblematic of the tensions between economic development and curbing the fossil fuel emissions that are causing climate change. The Obama administration rejected it, but President Donald Trump revived it and has been a strong supporter.
“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.
“Trudeau raised Keystone XL as a top priority when he spoke with Biden in a phone call in November,” AP reported. “The project is meant to expand critical oil exports for Canada, which has the third-largest oil reserves in the world and is America’s number one source of foreign oil.”
“It is a insult directed at the United States most important ally and trading partner on day one of a new administration,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said, calling Biden’s decision a “gut punch” for his province.
“The leader of our closest ally retroactively vetoed approval for a pipeline that exists and which is co-owned by Canadian government, directly attacking by far the largest part of the Canada U.S. trade relationship, which is our energy industry and exports,” Kenney said.
Marty Durbin, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, said Biden’s decision is not based on science and will cause thousands of Americans to lose their jobs.
“The pipeline — the most studied infrastructure project in American history — is already under construction and has cleared countless legal and environmental hurdles,” Durbin said in a statement. “Halting construction will also impede the safe and efficient transport of oil, and unfairly single out production from one of our closest and most important allies.”
But environmental activists, who claim pipelines are bad for the planet, are praising Biden.
“Killing the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all is a clear indication that climate action is a priority for the White House,” Dale Marshall, national climate program manager for Canada’s Environmental Defence, said in the AP report.
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter or send news tips to pstarr@breitbart.com
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