U.S. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) joined members of the House Energy Action Team (HEAT) denouncing President Joe Biden’s action to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline that essentially killed the project.
Rep. Scalise and HEAT Co-Chairs Reps. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) joined HEAT member U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) to release statements after TC Energy Corp. announced last week that it was ending the Keystone XL Pipeline project following President Biden’s permit revocation issued in January.
“Today’s announcement officially scrapping the Keystone Pipeline was intentionally caused by President Biden’s destructive decision to pander to his extremist radical base at the expense of hard-working Americans,” Rep. Scalise said on June 10. “This administration has turned its back on Canada, our closest ally and strategic partner, and made us more dependent on foreign oil from countries that don’t share our values.”
The senator added that thousands of existing jobs and more than 10,000 future jobs have been lost now that the project is cancelled. “This outcome was clearly avoidable and absolutely unnecessary,” he said.
At the same time, Rep. Scalise pointed out that Biden recently lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, “giving a ridiculous gift to Russia with the opportunity to expand their energy influence throughout Europe,” he said, calling the move Biden’s “all-out assault on American energy independence.”
“We’ve seen soaring prices at the gas pump and good-paying American jobs shipped away to countries which emit more carbon at dramatically higher rates than the U.S.,” he said. “This result will only hurt American families, make our country less secure and wipe out well-paying jobs.”