The Biden administration issued a congressionally mandated report outlining the economic benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline if President Biden had not revoked its federal permits.
According to the assessment, which was completed by the Department of Energy (DOE) in late December without any public disclosure, the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and had a positive economic impact of $3.4-9.6 billion, citing numerous studies. An earlier federal government analysis published in 2014 estimated that 3,900 direct employment and 21,050 overall jobs would be produced throughout the two-year construction period.
However, shortly after assuming office in January 2021, Biden revoked the pipeline’s permits, ultimately shutting down the project.
“The Biden administration finally owned up to what we have known all along — killing the Keystone XL Pipeline cost good-paying jobs, hurt Montana’s economy, and was the first step in the Biden administration’s war on oil and gas production in the United States,” Sen. Steve Daines. R-Mont., said Thursday in a statement. “Unfortunately, the administration continues to pursue energy production anywhere but the United States.”
“These policies may appeal to the woke left but hurt Montana’s working families,” he continued. “I’ll keep fighting back against Biden’s anti-energy agenda and supporting Montana energy projects and jobs.”
After Daines and Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, successfully included a bill demanding the report into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Biden signed into law in November 2021, the DOE was compelled to release the report. The government was obligated to publish the study within 90 days of the bill’s enactment, but it took more than a year to do so.
The DOE stated in a statement Thursday that the project would have had negligible long-term job impacts, but did not mention the thousands of jobs that were anticipated to be created during pipeline construction.
“The U.S. Department of Energy released a report evaluating existing analysis on economic and job effects of the XL portion of Keystone pipeline,” the DOE told Fox News Digital. “It concluded there were limited job impacts, with approximately 50 permanent jobs estimated to have been created was the pipeline operational.”
Republican lawmakers and energy industry officials have slammed Biden’s decision to kill the pipeline, claiming it would have helped keep gas prices down and ensure energy security.
According to its operator, TC Energy, Keystone XL was supposed to be completed early this year and deliver an additional 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the United States via an existing pipeline network.
The project labor agreement signed by TC Energy with four labor unions in August 2020 offered 42,000 American jobs and $2 billion in total wages.
As a result of Biden’s decision, TC Energy abandoned the project in June 2021. A federal judge dismissed a legal challenge filed by nearly two dozen states requesting the court to reinstate the pipeline’s licenses last year.
“The Department of Energy finally admitted to the worst-kept secret about the Keystone Pipeline: President Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline sacrificed thousands of American jobs,” Risch said Thursday.
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“To make matters worse, his decision moved the U.S. further away from energy independence and lower gas prices at a time when inflation and gas prices are drastically impacting Americans’ pocketbooks,” he added.
“The president must turn to American-made energy and jobs rather than dictators and despots to fix the energy crisis he created on his first day in office.”
The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.