WASHINGTON – White House press secretary Jen Psaki scoffed on Monday at a reporter who asked when workers on the canceled Keystone XL gas pipeline would receive “green jobs” promised by President Biden.
Up to 11,000 jobs are expected to be lost following Biden’s decision on the first day to immediately halt construction of the pipeline that was supposed to transport oil from Canada to Texas – leaving South Dakota staggering and 1,000 people immediately unemployed.
“Where can they go for their green job?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Psaki at his news conference on Monday afternoon, referring to Biden’s promise to create well-paid union jobs in the green energy sector while his government tries to end dependency of the country of fossil fuels.
“This is something that the government has promised and now there is a gap, so I am curious when this happens, when can these people count on it?” Doocy added.
“Well, I would certainly like you to present your data for all the thousands and thousands of people who will not get a green job,” said Psaki. “Maybe the next time you’re here, you can present that.”
“But you said that they are going to get green jobs. I’m just asking when will this happen? ”Doocy responded, noting that a report by the North American International Workers Union, which found that 1,000 union jobs in the Keystone project” would disappear immediately “.
Another 10,000 construction jobs expected to be created by the project were also eliminated by Biden’s decision.
Prominent union leader and ally AFL-CIO Biden president Richard Trumka criticized the decision in an Axios interview on HBO on Sunday, saying that Biden should also have announced where he would replace the lost jobs.
But Psaki dismissed criticism and made a vague promise that Biden would come up with a job plan in the coming weeks.
“He has every plan to share more details about that plan in the coming weeks,” she said when asked how Biden would support unemployed workers through the decision.
Biden climate czar John Kerry was also condemned by Republicans last month as “out of reach” when he suggested that energy and coal workers affected by climate change efforts could “work to make solar panels” .
Last month, the Biden administration unveiled its $ 2 trillion environmental plan, powered by the New Deal Green, which includes eliminating coal, oil and natural gas as sources of electricity by 2035.