Trump revives construction of American pipelines blocked by Obama
Energy — di Cecilia Bergamasco
Trump unblocks construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines
Trump revives construction of American pipelines blocked by Obama
Trump unblocks construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines
Donald Trump has signed the executive order reviving the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. According to Trump's own announcement, the completion of the two infrastructures "will create 28,000 jobs and all the facilities will be produced in America, like in the old days."
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at a press conference on Monday that Trump's goal is to strike a balance between environmental protection and projects that can create jobs and stimulate the economy. "Areas like the Dakota pipeline and Keystone are capable of increasing jobs, growing the economy, and contributing to the United States' energy supply," Spicer said.
The construction of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline had been rejected by former president Barack Obama, who had also blocked Energy Transfer Partners LP's $3.8 billion Dakota Access project, which faced fierce opposition from Native American communities.
Trump's backing of the oil lobby
Trump's moves confirm his electoral pledges in favour of fossil fuel lobbies, granting them greater freedom to build new infrastructure, create jobs and remove bottlenecks in fossil fuel transportation. But Trump appears to be ignoring the latest figures from the U.S. Energy and Employment Report, according to which solar creates more jobs than oil, gas and coal combined.
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Environmental opposition to pipeline construction
Environmentalists have fiercely fought the Keystone XL project because it represents a serious threat in terms of climate change: the pipeline would be used to transport oil extracted from tar sands in Canada, which is far more polluting in terms of CO2 emissions than oil from Arabian fields. The creation of the infrastructure would also accelerate the development of tar sands extraction in Alberta, which is highly energy-intensive. What is more, landowners along the pipeline route warn that a spill of thick crude oil could contaminate the Ogallala aquifer, a drinking water source stretching from Texas to South Dakota.