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FRANKSVILLE – Three Republican Wisconsin congressmen have joined in the backlash against the White House’s decision to shut down the Keystone pipeline project, saying “hundreds” of Wisconsin workers lose their jobs as construction project massive and controversial stopped this week.
The decision to revoke the permit to build Keystone XL was one of the first decrees signed by new President Joe Biden, which drew praise from environmental groups but harsh criticism from proponents of the oil project and gas company, including three of Wisconsin’s representatives in Congress. .
Friday’s press conference at a jobsite for Michels Corporation, a national building contractor based in Brownsville, Wisconsin, brought together Republican representatives Bryan Steil (District 1), Glenn Grothman (District 6) and newly elected Scott Fitzgerald (District 5 ). Michels is a subcontractor to TC, the Calgary-based company that builds the pipeline.
Watch the press briefing here:
More than 1,000 jobs related to the Keystone project will be cut in the coming weeks, Keystone XL president Richard Prior said earlier this week. “Hundreds” of those cut jobs are filled by Wisconsin workers, Republican congressmen said Friday.
“I find his decision disgusting. Hundreds of Wisconsin workers have lost their jobs because of what Joe Biden has done. He must reconsider this action and get the Wisconsin workers back to work,” Representative Steil told reporters.
Andrew Burton
GASCOYNE, ND – OCTOBER 14: Miles of unused pipe, prepared for the Keystone XL pipeline project, sit in a lot on October 14, 2014 outside of Gascoyne, North Dakota. (Photo by Andrew Burton / Getty Images)
A Michels general manager at the briefing also said hundreds of workers had been made redundant and “many of them live in Wisconsin.”
The Keystone Pipeline was to stretch 1,700 miles between Alberta, Canada and the Texas Gulf Coast, crossing the states of Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. The pipeline was supposed to carry around 800,000 barrels of oil per day.
Representative Grothman focused on the potential impact of the decision on the United States’ major trading partners and neighbors, Canada and Mexico.
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“It’s so important that we have a good relationship with both of them,” Grothman said. “I’m sure Canada thought it was a done deal. It is part of their economic development. And on the first day, Biden comes out of the chute and blows Canada right in the face. Amateur night at the White House, I’ll tell you that. “
The pipeline was first proposed in 2008 and quickly became a symbol of the tensions between economic development that relies on traditional energy sources like gas and oil, and the effort to reduce fossil fuel emissions. causing climate change.
Former President Barack Obama rejected the pipeline proposal. Former President Donald Trump revived it.
Representative Fitzgerald used his few minutes at the press conference to call for legislative pressure to revoke President Biden’s executive order closing the pipeline.
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“I’m hopeful not only being here today, but I think other elected officials – whether at the state legislature or in Congress – is where the answer is to reverse it. “, did he declare. Fitzgerald also called on Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin to urge the White House to reverse the decision.
Critics of the pipeline say operations in Alberta’s oil sands increase greenhouse gas emissions and threaten the province’s environment. But Representative Steil said those fears were overblown.
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“Environmental concerns are very misleading for a lot of people,” Steil said. “Oil and gas are always going to be transported to the United States of America. It will be done by rail – a less efficient way of transporting gas, with greater risk to the environment from train accidents.”
Tribal and environmental groups applauded President Biden’s decision.
“This is a 10-year rationale for defending our waters and our treaty rights against this tar sands carbon bomb,” Dallas Goldtooth, member of the Mdewakanton Dakota and Dine Nations, told The Guardian. “I commend President Biden for recognizing how dangerous KXL is. To our communities and our climate, and I look forward to similar executive action to stop DAPL and Line 3 on the basis of these same dangers.”
Other than statements from Wisconsin lawmakers, it is not confirmed how many Wisconsin workers will lose their jobs due to the Keystone pipeline cancellation.
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