By Melanie Risdon

April 19, 2022

-Western Standard

 

Attorney generals from 16 Republican states are asking the Biden administration to resume construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The request follows a report that US officials — in an effort to lower prices at the pumps — want to increase oil imports from Canada, but without additional pipelines, as reported by The Washington Times.

“We have repeatedly asked you to reconsider this misguided (and we continue to believe unlawful) decision,” the attorneys general, led by Montana’s Austin Knudsen, wrote to US President Joe Biden Monday.

“We warned you then if your decision was not reversed, Americans would ‘suffer serious detrimental consequences,’ consumers would pay higher prices, and our allies would become further dependent on Russian and Middle Eastern oil. We hate to say we told you so.”

On his first day in office in January 2021, Biden cancelled a permit that killed the Keystone XL pipeline.

Republicans and critics of the administration have called Biden to reverse his decision and argued it would decrease gas prices with increased supply. Prices are at an all-time high due to inflation and a lack of global supply along with the war in Ukraine.

In June, Calgary-based TC Energy terminated the $9 billion project with less than 10% of the pipeline constructed. The pipeline was slated to run from Alberta to Nebraska and carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to the Alberta government’s website.

The US imported approximately 209,000 barrels of Russian crude oil per day in 2021, according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers trade association.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently said if construction resumed on Keystone, the pipeline could be built by the first quarter of 2023.

Calgary-based TC Energy told Insider in March the existing Keystone pipeline system “will continue to provide unique, stable and safe source of energy to meet increasing US energy demands.”

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported the Biden administration was considering options for increasing Canadian oil imports via established transport routes, such as by rail or expanding existing pipeline capacities. However, bringing Keystone back to life is reportedly not under consideration.

During a trip last week to Alberta, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia restated his displeasure with Biden’s decision and said it would “be foolish not to” reconsider Keystone as a potential solution to combat high energy costs

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