Sen. Joe Manchin asks President Biden to reconsider move to cancel Keystone XL pipeline



Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), perhaps the last living moderate Democrat in the United States Senate, has asked President Joe Biden to reverse his decision to cancel the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Manchin, the chairman of the Senate Energy an Natural Resources Committee, wrote a letter to Biden Tuesday asking the president to "reconsider" his executive order and "take into account the potential impacts of any further action to safety, jobs, and energy security."

Manchin's letter reminds the president that even without a new pipeline, crude oil will be transported across the United States by truck or by train, which are at a greater risk of having an accident that can spill crude oil than construction of a pipeline.

"From a safety perspective, we should be encouraging the transport of energy via our vast network of pipelines and facilitate the responsible expansion of that network," Manchin wrote.

"Ongoing development of responsible energy infrastructure supports your 'Build Back Better' priorities by keeping Americans working while strengthening North American economic and energy security," Manchin told the president. "It is of the utmost importance that the United States maintain that energy security through strategic relationships with our allies rather than increasing reliance on OPEC nations and Russia. This includes the development of infrastructure, like the Keystone XL and Mountain Valley pipelines, to get this energy to market in the safest and most environmentally responsible way.

"Pipeline infrastructure projects already undergo a rigorous permitting process that allows experts to weigh-in on the security, safety, and environmental impacts of the project. I encourage you to let these processes proceed as intended and to not let politics drive the decisions on the development and operation of our nation's vital energy infrastructure," he concluded.

The Keystone XL pipeline was proposed in 2008 but in November 2015 the Obama administration tried to kill the 1,200-mile pipeline project, which would pump 35 million gallons of crude oil each day from Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska. President Donald Trump revived the project under his administration, only for President Joe Biden to revoke its permit on the first day of his presidency.

Biden's decision to cancel the project has drawn criticism from labor unions that represent thousands of now-unemployed pipeline workers. TC Energy Corporation, the Canadian firm that wanted to build the Keystone XL pipeline, estimates that 11,000 jobs will be lost because of Biden's actions.

(H/T: Washington Examiner)

Watch: Gov. Kristi Noem rebukes state reporters for failing to cover workers hurt by Biden's Keystone cancellation



South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) took the media to task Thursday, chastising state reporters for failing to cover the negative economic impact of President Joe Biden's decision to cancel the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Speaking at a press conference, Noem distributed to the media copies of a Washington Examiner article about a Midland hotel owner and former pipe workers who are reeling from the administration's cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project. As one of his first executive actions, President Biden fulfilled a campaign promise to environmental activists to shut down the project, a move that will destroy at least 11,000 jobs and has angered labor unions.

"The article talks about Laurie Cox, who runs a hotel in Midland. She's not sure how she's going to make ends meet and most of her clientele were pipeline workers. She says that she and the workers became like family in recent months," Noem told the media.

"The article also references Trudy Flesner, who runs a truck stop in Milesville. Trudy expanded her operation in anticipation of extra business to provide lodging and services to those who were working on the pipeline. And now that expanded investment appears to be wasted," she continued. "It's an excellent piece of reporting because it goes beyond the data and the statistics to tell the personal stories behind this executive action.

"I want to have a candid conversation with all of you," Noem said, addressing the reporters gathered there. "This article was written by an organization and an entity out of Washington, D.C. Why is that? Why is it that no South Dakota reporters covered the real life impacts of the loss of the pipeline?

"If I had taken an action that had ended hundreds or thousands of jobs in South Dakota with the stroke of a pen, I know for a fact that all of you would have covered it," she added. "I know that if former President Trump had taken an action that had ended hundreds or thousands of jobs for South Dakota families, you would have covered that. And that's how it should be. But frankly, I would expect all of you to treat this new administration exactly the same way. Let's make sure we hold them to the same standard."

Noem told the reporters that she doesn't expect them to always take her side, acknowledging that's not their job. But she added that in her view, reporters reveal their biases not in the way they cover the news, but by which stories they choose to cover and which they ignore.

"In this instance the lack of coverage from South Dakota reporters and media speaks volumes," Noem said.

Your browser does not support the video tag. Video provided by Gov. Kristi Noem's office

Keystone pipeline worker says Biden's decision based on politics: 'I went to my truck and literally cried' over layoffs



The cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline was one of President Joe Biden's first actions in the White House. TC Energy Corporation, the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL pipeline project, said they would cut more than 11,000 jobs.

One of the Americans who lost their job due to President Biden's action is Neal Crabtree, a welding foreman who began working on pipeline construction as an apprentice in 1997. Crabtree, a member of Pipeliners Local Union 798, poured out his heart on how he reacted to finding out about the layoffs and how the cancellation of the pipeline will directly impact him.

"I build pipelines, I'm used to layoffs. We start projects knowing that once it's complete, we're getting laid off," Crabtree wrote in a Facebook post that has been shared 4,000 times. "We depend on these temporary projects though to make a career."

"What happened today was different," said Crabtree, who was working on a pump station for the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska. "I got laid off for political reasons and stupidity and the future doesn't look so bright."

"I've got a sickening feeling in my stomach tonight and an aching feeling in my heart that I've never felt," the 46-year-old welder from Arkansas revealed.

"At the end of every job, I always shake the hands of the people I hire and the people that are sent from our Unions out of work list before they're laid off," he explained. "We laugh and smile and are proud of a job well done."

"Today it wasn't like that, I laid guys off because the President doesn't want them to work," Crabtree divulged. "I went to my truck and literally cried."

Following the viral and heartwrenching Facebook post, the now unemployed Crabtree told his story during an appearance on Fox News.

"It's been a hot political fight, but we got started on it this year," he said of the pipeline. "As soon as the new administration came in on day one, they decided they wanted to put 11,000 people out of work."

"Well, I mean, the president was able to, you know, put us out of work by signing a piece of paper, but I'm the one that had to let these people in and tell them I didn't have a job anymore," Crabtree said during an interview on "The Faulkner Focus." "I'm the one who had to look these people in the eye and tell them they didn't have a job anymore, so if I got a little emotional, I think that's only human."

"We go all over the country and we depend on these projects to provide a living for our families," he said. "I don't know what I'm going to do right now. It's tough."

Last week, the Biden administration's Transportation Secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg told pipeline workers to find new jobs.

"We are very eager to see those workers continue to be employed in good-paying union jobs, even if they might be different ones," Buttigieg said.

Crabtree responded to politicians telling him to find a new job, "I don't consider this a job, I consider it a career."

"You spend a lifetime fine-tuning your skills and if you go start another job you're starting at the bottom," he articulated. "I doubt that these politicians would like it if someone told them to go start over and find a different job."

"Just like the rest of the country, COVID hurt us bad. We had a lot of projects canceled," Crabtree told Fox News. "We've got guys that haven't worked in months, and in some cases years, and to have a project of this magnitude canceled, it's going to hurt a lot of people, a lot of families, a lot of communities."

Crabtree believes that President Biden's decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline was based on politics, and not climate change.

"For the president to sit up there and tell the American public that he canceled this project because of climate reasons, it simply isn't true," Crabtree pointed out. "This oil is already coming into this country."

"This pipeline wasn't going to be the start of it," Crabtree noted. "It's coming by rail cars every single day. Hundreds, thousands of them."

"A pipeline can do this safer. Common sense tells you that," he continued. "Common sense said we don't need to put American workers out of a job right now."

"Common sense says this pipeline needs to be built," Crabtree said, then criticized the Biden administration, "Common sense seems to be lacking in the early days of this administration."

Crabtree seemingly made a veiled condemnation of President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who has overseas business dealings with CEFC China Energy and Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which he was a board member of.

"It bothers me when they're overseas setting up family members to profit off the same thing they want to stop here in America. That''s definitely aggravating," he stated.

Crabtree ended the interview by saying, "I'm in the process of trying to live the American dream right now, I'm building a house – the bank may own it before I ever get a chance to live in it. So I'm definitely worried."

"I'm not giving up," Crabtree said. "We're going to keep fighting. I'm not giving up."

Laid-off Keystone XL worker shares heartbreaking message for Biden www.youtube.com