Major trade unions including North America’s Building Trades Union and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which endorsed President Joe Biden’s campaign, expressed disappointment with his Keystone XL Pipeline executive order. “The Biden Administration’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit on day one of his presidency is both insulting and disappointing,” Laborers International Union of North America General President Terry O’Sullivan, who endorsed Biden, said in a statement. More than 1,000 construction workers will be laid off because of the permit revocation, TC Energy Corporation, the company constructing the pipeline, said in a message to its employees following the executive order, according to Reuters.
Several trade unions that endorsed President Joe Biden during the campaign, condemned his executive order revoking the federal government’s permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
President Joe Biden revoked the March 2019 federal permit given to TC Energy Corporation, the company constructing the pipeline, in a Jan. 20 executive order on “protecting public health and the environment.” The pipeline has been criticized by organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council for being harmful to the environment but applauded by groups like the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce for creating union jobs.
“The Keystone XL Pipeline has been through more than 10 years of extensive environmental reviews, and today’s announcement is a slap in the face to the thousands of union workers who are already a part of this safe and sustainable project,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement following Biden’s signing of the executive order.
Marty Durbin, president of the Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, called Biden’s order “politically motivated” and said it would result in thousands of building trades workers losing their jobs.
General Manager working on the Keystone XL pipeline says that “hundreds of guys” have already been laid off in Wisconsin as a result of Joe Biden’s executive order halting construction of the pipelinepic.twitter.com/TMOf80ph2i
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 25, 2021
The project is an extension of an existing TC Energy pipeline that already transports crude oil from Canada to the U. S., according to The Wall Street Journal. The extension would carry crude directly from Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Nebraska where it would connect to existing pipeline that stretches to the Gulf of Mexico.
TC Energy said Biden’s action would “impact thousands of union jobs.” In the coming weeks, more than 1,000 construction workers will be laid off because of the permit revocation, the company said in a message to its employees following the decision, according to Reuters.
John Kerry, Biden’s climate czar, said Wednesday that workers who lose their jobs due to the administration’s climate policies can find jobs making solar panels.
General Manager working on the Keystone XL pipeline says that “hundreds of guys” have already been laid off in Wisconsin as a result of Joe Biden’s executive order halting construction of the pipelinepic.twitter.com/TMOf80ph2i
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TC Energy signed the Keystone XL Pipeline’s project labor agreement (PLA) with four labor unions in August, promising the creation of 42,000 “family-sustaining jobs” in the U. S. and $2 billion in total earnings for the workers.
The labor unions that signed the PLA were the Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) and the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA). All four labor unions endorsed Biden’s presidential campaign.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW) announced Monday it would offer free legal aid to union workers who lost their job due to the order and whose union endorsed Biden.
“Workers should not be forced to financially support union bosses who use workers’ money to back candidates willing to destroy their jobs with the stroke of a pen,” Mark Mix, president of the NRTW, said in a statement.
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