A hotel owner in South Dakota told Fox & Friends on Tuesday that she prays that everything will be fine after President Biden’s decision to stop the Keystone XL pipeline project.
Stroppel Hotel owner Laurie Cox says she recently opened her hotel in Midland, SD, recently to serve the oil and gas workers there, but after President Biden’s move, she worries about her business.
Cox told host Steve Doocy that she had a “very deep and dark feeling” on the opening day.
Doocy noted that earlier in the day, his hotel, which he said had existed since the 1930s, was packed and packed with people from all over the country who were staying there because they were working on the Keystone XL pipeline.
Cox said when he saw President Biden start signing some executive decrees, “I thought, ‘Oh, please, please, don’t let it be the Cornerstone.'”
She noted that later that day she received confirmation that Biden stopped the project when the people who were staying at her hotel “went back to the hotel and said, ‘Well, that’s it. It’s done.'”
“And I thought, ‘So did he sign?’ And they said, ‘Apparently, we’re out of work and things are blocked and we’re going home,’ “Cox continued.” And then they started packing their items and most of them left that night. “
Construction on the disputed 1,700-mile pipeline was halted last month when President Biden revoked his license on his first day in office.
“Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline license in place would not be consistent with my government’s economic and climate imperatives,” says Biden’s executive order.
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The pipeline was expected to carry around 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to the Texas Gulf coast, through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Following the announcement, Keystone XL President Richard Prior said more than 1,000 jobs, most of which are union members, will be eliminated.
Cox noted that he bought the hotel in September, after two years of negotiations.
“We bought the hotel not specifically for the pipeline workers, but in the back of their mind with the investments, yes, they [the pipeline workers] would help to really pay for things and would help us rebuild the hotel back to its historic glory, “she said.
Now she wonders what will happen next.
“We keep our faith, defend our convictions and finish what we started,” Cox told Doocy.
Cox went on to say that she and her husband “will continue to invest where we can to bring this hotel back to where it needs to be.”
“I will just represent and do the best I can for our group of people from very loyal generations that we have here and pray that everything will be okay,” she added.
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The Obama administration rejected the pipeline, which was first proposed in 2008, but former President Trump, who is a strong supporter, revived the project.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.