Biden Cancels Keystone Pipeline Permits
The Claim
Biden is destroying 11,000 jobs by revoking the Keystone Pipeline.
Emerging story
Originally posted by Danny Farnsworth on Facebook, a meme claims that “by revoking the Keystone Pipeline, Biden is destroying 11,000 jobs and roughly $2 billion in wages.”
The Facebook post was shared nearly 2,000 times and the comments section was filled with people claiming that Biden is “hurting America” and that “He wants Socialism fast.”
Misbar’s Analysis
President Joe Biden canceled permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline on his first day in office. The plans included a 1,179-mile (1,897km) pipeline running from Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would carry 830,000 barrels of oil each day. Environmentalists and Native American groups have fought this project for more than a decade citing a risk to local communities and the environment. The development of the pipeline was blocked by the Obama administration in 2015, but President Trump overturned that order in 2017 and allowed it to go ahead.
According to a press release from TC Energy Corp. on October 28, 2020, which owns the Keystone XL Pipeline with the Alberta government, “Keystone XL is expected to employ more than 11,000 Americans in 2021, creating more than $1.6 billion in gross wages.”
A report from the State Department in 2014 found that a similar number of positions would be created, but only for 4-8 months during construction. They forecasted that no more than 50 jobs, some of which could be located in Canada, would be required to maintain the Keystone XL Pipeline. 35 of the jobs would be permanent, while 15 would be temporary contractors.
The claim that Biden is destroying 11,000 jobs by revoking the Keystone XL Pipeline is misleading because it doesn’t explain that most of these jobs would have been temporary and the 11,000 number was an estimate of Americans expected to be employed during the construction of the pipeline in 2021.
