Deciding the fate of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline could be among the first issues on the plate of President-elect Joe Biden, once he takes office Wednesday.
Canada’s CBC News was the first to report that Biden plans to make good on his campaign promise to stop the Keystone, by rescinding its cross-border permit. That report has been confirmed by Politico and Reuters.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that in an effort to save the $8 billion project, Keystone developer TC Energy is pledging to invest $1.7 billion in renewable energy projects. It is an apparent effort by the company to showcase the Keystone XL as an environmentally friendly fossil fuel project, to be built with good-paying union jobs.
Biden's transition team has declined to discuss the report but said the president-elect's position on the Keystone pipeline has not changed.
The Keystone XL is the final leg in TC Energy's pipeline system to deliver Canadian crude oil from Hardesty, Alberta to Texas. A portion of the line would run through eastern Montana, and pre-construction work had already begun at the northern border.
The Keystone XL was first proposed more than a decade ago and has since been delayed in the courts. Most recently, the Trump administration issued a special presidential permit to push the project through, but that was met with legal challenges.
