Kelly Rulison
Copy Editor
President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed to have construction on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines continued to create jobs in the U.S.
The decision to advance the pipelines cancels out all of former President Barack Obama’s efforts to block construction of the two pipelines. However this does support one of Trump’s campaign promises.
As Trump was signing the documents Tuesday Jan. 23, in the Oval Office, Trump also vowed to “renegotiate some of the terms” of the Keystone bill and said he would then seek to “get that pipeline built.”
According to cnn.com “Trump issued executive actions declaring oil pipelines constructed in the US should be built with US materials, streamlining the regulatory process for pipeline construction and shortening the environmental review process.”
During his campaign Trump spoke of streamlining the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which was stalled for years in the Obama administration until Obama denied approval for the pipeline’s construction in Nov. 2016.
Protesters of the pipeline projects quickly condemned Trump’s actions.
“President Trump is legally required to honor our treaty rights and provide a fair and reasonable pipeline process,” said Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairman Dave Archambault II.
Archambault II continued,”Americans know this pipeline was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent. The existing pipeline route risks infringing on our treaty rights, contaminating our water and the water of 17 million Americans downstream.”
Tom Steyer, the president of NextGen Climate, accused the Trump administration of putting “corporate interests ahead of American interests.”
“The pipelines are all risk and no reward, allowing corporate polluters to transport oil through our country to be sold on the global market, while putting our air and water at serious risk,” Tom Steyer, president of NextGen Climate said.
According to cnn.com Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a democrat from North Dakota where the Dakota Access Pipeline is being built, welcomed the move, as did Senator Joe Manchin, a democrat from West Virginia.
“What this country needs is more jobs, and that is why I have always been a proponent of the Keystone XL Pipeline and was an original co-sponsor of legislation approving the Keystone XL Pipeline project,” said Senator Joe Manchin.
Manchin continued, “With a majority of Americans in support of the Keystone XL pipeline’s construction, I’m glad we are finally moving forward with this important project.”
For more information on Trump and his actions to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines visit cnn.com.
