President-elect Joe Biden is considering canceling the international license for TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline – and Canadian officials are concerned.
Jason Kenney, Alberta’s 18th Premier, said in a tweet that he is “deeply concerned about reports that President-elect Joe Biden’s new administration may revoke the presidential authorization to cross the Keystone XL border.”
The project is scheduled to move 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Alberta to Nebraska, but the cancellation of this $ 9 billion project has been reported to be one of Biden’s first day actions on climate change.
A source close to the Biden administration and the pipeline project told Fox News: “Biden’s people were evaluating the decision on manufacturing job numbers, but clearly needed to give their team’s environmentalists an early victory.”
The same source went on to say that the pipeline company and union partners have intensified their messages around environmental compensation with the pipeline moving forward with a zero net emission standard.
TC Energy announced on Sunday that the project would achieve zero net emissions in all operations by 2023.
But Canadian officials still fear that this cancellation will end jobs on both sides of the border, weaken the Canada-United States relationship and undermine the national security of the United States.
Richard Madan, Canada’s top news correspondent, CTV News, said in a tweet that Canadian officials regard the expected cancellation as “a punch to Canada’s face.”
Keystone XL has become a political symbol of the struggle between climate activists and the oil industry.
The project has been controversial since it was first proposed more than a decade ago. Opponents argue that stimulating the development of oil sands contributes to climate change. On the other hand, Canada’s oil industry argues that Keystone XL is essential for the supply of heavy oil to US Gulf Coast refineries.
Biden is expected to terminate the presidential license for Keystone XL through an executive order on the day of his inauguration, reversing one of President Trump’s first actions in office.