Politics

Joe Biden Will Rescind Keystone XL Permit If Elected President, Campaign Says

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Varun Hukeri General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
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Former Vice President Joe Biden would rescind the Keystone XL pipeline permit if elected president, his campaign said in a statement Monday.

Biden campaign policy director Stef Feldman said that if elected, Biden would “proudly stand in the Roosevelt Room again as president and stop it for good by rescinding the Keystone XL pipeline permit.”

This is the first time Biden’s campaign has publicly addressed how the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would deal with the controversial pipeline, Politico reported. Previous Democratic candidates had signed the “NoKXL Pledge,” which guaranteed that if elected president they would revoke the permit.

The Keystone XL pipeline, which builds upon an existing pipeline system that runs from Canada to Texas, has been in the works for over a decade, and it was initially rejected by the Obama administration in 2015 due to environmental concerns. President Donald Trump, who made restoring the pipeline a part of his campaign, signed two executive orders reversing Obama’s decision during the first week of his administration.

GASCOYNE, ND - OCTOBER 14: Miles of unused pipe, prepared for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, sit in a lot on October 14, 2014 outside Gascoyne, North Dakota. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Unused pipe prepared for the Keystone XL pipeline (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

However, the Trump administration’s decision angered environmentalists and progressive groups, and the project has ground to a halt after being stuck in courts for more than two years. (RELATED: REPORT: Trump Is Preparing To Issue More Executive Orders Propping Up Pipelines)

The project is currently in a state of limbo due to a ruling from Judge Brian Morris of the United States District Court for Montana earlier this month that canceled an environmental permit for the pipeline. Morris upheld his ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers did not go through the proper environmental review of considering the risks to endangered species and habitats, Reuters reported. The Trump administration is currently appealing this decision.

Although the future of the Keystone XL pipeline is uncertain, the Biden campaign’s statement adds extra pressure for TC Energy, the company overseeing the project.

A spokesperson for TC Energy told The Daily Caller that “Keystone XL remains an important North American energy infrastructure project that will spur billions in new private sector investment and create thousands of high-quality jobs in a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty and unemployment.”

In response to environmental concerns, they stated that “no other pipeline project in the history of the industry has been studied more than Keystone XL and every study has squarely concluded it can be built safely and in an environmentally sound manner.”