President-elect Joe Biden is slated to cancel permits for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline as part of a slew of day-one executive actions, according to a news report.
A list of Biden’s day-one executive actions that circulated with stakeholders included directives that would rescind permits for the 2,000-mile oil pipeline, which would run from Alberta in western Canada through to Texas, Canadian news outlet CBC News reported on Sunday.
Over the weekend, Biden’s team released a memo from chief of staff Ron Klain to incoming White House senior staff outlining actions Biden would take in his first 10 days. While the memo didn’t mention Keystone XL, it did say that Biden will sign an executive order on his first day in office to rejoin the Paris climate agreement.
The memo also noted that Biden will sign additional executive actions before the end of the month “to address the climate crisis with the urgency the science demands and ensure that science guides the administration’s decision making.”
The Keystone XL pipeline has long been wrapped up in political turmoil. Former President Barack Obama temporarily delayed the pipeline in 2015 under pressure from climate activists.
President Trump, once he entered office, quickly greenlighted the project, but it has faced legal hurdles since then. Biden, on the campaign trail, said he wouldn’t support the project.
Following the news that Biden could cancel the pipeline, TC Energy, the project’s developer, committed on Sunday to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the pipeline and power the project completely with renewable energy by 2030.
“We are confident that Keystone XL is not only the safest and most reliable method to transport oil to markets, but the initiatives announced today also ensures it will have the lowest environmental impact of an oil pipeline in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Richard Prior, Keystone XL’s president, in a statement.
“Canada and the United States are among the most environmentally responsible countries in the world with some of the strictest standards for fossil fuel production,” Prior added.
TC Energy also noted it has signed a memorandum of understanding with North America’s Building Trades Union to employ union workers to build out renewable energy projects.
