Joe Biden plans to scrap Keystone XL Pipeline in one of his first acts as US president, transition documents say, as the Democrat begins reversing some of Donald Trump’s major policies.
A measure to “rescind [the] Keystone XL pipeline permit” is expected to feature alongside a number of orders during Mr Biden’s first few days in office, according to a memo seen by US media.
On inauguration day itself, the incoming president will sign almost a dozen executive orders which, the transition team said, were to prevent “crises” and “irreversible harms” inflicting the country.
The orders are widely expected to include a measure to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, the withdrawal of Mr Trump’s travel restrictions on some Muslim-majority countries, and an order making mask-wearing mandatory in an expanded set of circumstances for at least 100 days.
“These executive actions will deliver relief to the millions of Americans that are struggling in the face of these crises,” Ron Klain, Mr Biden’s incoming chief of staff, said in the memo.
“President-elect Biden will take action — not just to reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration, but also to start moving our country forward.”
Mr Biden had earlier opposed Mr Trump’s 2017 decision of granting a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and pledged to cancel the $8bn cross-border project with Canada if he became president.
The new president will “roll back Trump enviro actions via EO (including rescind Keystone XL pipeline permit),” the document read.
The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline to transport crude oil from tar sands in Canada’s Alberta to the US states of Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. While three phases of the project are currently underway, the fourth phase – known as Keystone XL – to transport oil to Nebraska is facing legal challenges amid environmental concerns.
Mr Trump granted a new permit to the Keystone XL project in 2019 to speed up the project despite critics arguing that it would prove disastrous for the environment and will devastate tribal communities.
The 1,179-mile pipeline will transport 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta to Nebraska and oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
The pipeline was rejected twice under the Obama administration, remaining blocked for eight years, because of the concerns that it could contribute to climate change. President Trump issued permits for the project in one of his first actions on taking office in 2017.
Canada defended the project on Sunday as inherently different to the one rejected by Mr Obama in 2015. The country’s ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, said: “Not only has the project itself changed significantly since it was first proposed, but Canada’s oilsands production has also changed significantly.
“Per-barrel oilsands GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions have dropped 31 per cent since 2000, and innovation will continue to drive progress.”