Native Americans Thank Biden For Canceling Keystone XL Pipeline - Statement

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2021) The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe is grateful to President Joe Biden for revoking a permit for the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline that exerted pressure on the pipeline construction parent company TC Energy to officially terminate the project earlier this week, Chairman Harold Frazier said on Thursday.

"I would like to thank United States President Joseph Biden for understanding the damage to this planet projects like this would cause and canceling the permit needed to cross the medicine line with Canada," Frazier said in a statement.

Frazier also thanked all the demonstrators who participated in the protests to stop the pipeline project.

However, Frazier said much more work remains to be done to oppose other pipelines that threaten tribes' territories and the environment.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux said in a separate statement that the members of the tribe are thrilled the project was canceled. Tribes were guaranteed protections under treaties and laws, and they are committed to see that they are upheld, he added.

Biden signed an executive order in January 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, was planned to transport oil to the US state of Nebraska.