Keystone XL Termination 'Huge Blow' For Tax Revenue, National Security - US Lawmakers

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) The decision to terminate the Keystone XL pipeline hurts prospects of collecting more tax revenue and strengthen national security in the energy sector, US Republican lawmakers said.

TC Energy, the parent company behind Keystone XL pipeline, announced earlier on Wednesday that it terminated the project following several years of legal challenges from indigenous tribes and environmental advocacy groups.

"This is devastating news and it's entirely Joe Biden's fault," US Senator Steve Daines said in a statement via Twitter on Wednesday. "A huge blow that has killed all hope for the jobs, tax revenue and national security that KXL [Keystone XL] would have provided."

US House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans said TC Energy's decision to abandon the Keystone XL project destroys thousands of jobs and jeopardizes US energy independence. McCarthy and Congressman Steve Scalise, also criticized President Joe Biden for not taking aggressive enough action to disrupt operations to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

"If it was a Russian pipeline Biden probably would've green-lighted it like he did for Nord Stream 2," Scalise said in a statement.

The Keystone XL pipeline faced a huge setback in January when President Joe Biden, in one of his first acts as US president, signed an executive order to rescind the Keystone XL construction permit granted in 2019 by former President Donald Trump.

Keystone is an oil pipeline system that moves Alberta crude oil from the Canadian town of Hardisty to refineries and tank farms in the US states of Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. The first three phases of the system are currently operational, however, the construction of the fourth phase, better known as Keystone XL, which is planned to transport oil to the US state of Nebraska, has caused a major uproar on both sides of the border.

While the project appears to be unsalvageable, 21 Republican-led US states are seeking redress in Federal court to revive it. US oil and gas consultants told Sputnik at the end of March that the lawsuit stands on solid legal grounds but the outcome of the legal battle is difficult to predict.