The Biden administration has failed to issue a congressionally-mandated study on the consequences of canceling the Keystone XL pipeline more than two weeks after it was due.
Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan bill signed into law in November 2021, the Department of Energy (DOE) was required to publish the report detailing the economic fallout from President Joe Biden’s decision revoking the pipeline’s federal permit, within 90 days. The legislation ordered the DOE to estimate the number of jobs that were lost and the consumer energy costs caused by the decision over a 10-year period.
But the DOE has still not issued the report nearly three weeks after the Feb. 13 deadline set by Congress. (RELATED: Oil Hits 11-Year High As Big Oil Dumps Russia, White House Mulls Energy Sanctions)
“No one likes delivering bad news,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “This report should show how President Biden’s reckless decisions to kill Keystone cost thousands of good-paying jobs.”
“We’re still waiting for the answers they’re trying to hide,” he continued.
In February, Barrasso and Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines — whose Defending Keystone Jobs Act, which mandated the study, was amended and inserted into the infrastructure bill — wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, urging her to release the report. They were joined by nine fellow Republican senators, including Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo and Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch.
Miles of unused pipe, prepared for the Keystone XL pipeline, sit in a lot on Oct. 14, 2014 outside of Gascoyne, North Dakota. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
“President Biden’s Executive Order destroyed numerous jobs and changed countless lives. It also strained relationships with Canada and put the United States at a strategic disadvantage when it comes to energy security for us and our allies,” the Republican lawmakers wrote. “Knowing the full impact of the President’s actions is important to the American people.”
“We urge you to complete your obligation under the law and release your report to Congress immediately,” the letter said.
The DOE hasn’t responded to the letter or issued the report to Congress, a spokesperson for Daines confirmed to the DCNF on Wednesday. (RELATED: Federal Judge Tosses Lawsuit Challenging Biden’s Authority To Block Keystone Pipeline)
“We continue to make progress on this report as we prepare to deliver the final version to Congress,” an Energy Department spokesperson told the DCNF in a statement.
Biden revoked the March 2019 federal permit given to TC Energy Corporation, the pipeline’s operator, in a January 2021 executive order on “protecting public health and the environment.” The president said the U.S. must “prioritize the development of a clean energy economy.”
TC Energy signed a project labor agreement with four labor unions in August 2020, promising the creation of 42,000 “family-sustaining jobs” in the U.S. and $2 billion in total earnings for workers.
The pipeline would have carried crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect to an existing pipeline that stretches to the Gulf of Mexico.
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