An Altoona-area Democrat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives filed a memorandum on Friday asking colleagues to co-sponsor a resolution backing reopening of the Keystone XL pipeline.
In his message to the House, Representative Frank Burns (D-Portage) noted that the U.S. imports more than 800,000 barrels of oil daily from Russia and that oil prices reached more than $100 per barrel last week. The representative anticipated that Russian fossil fuels will only get more expensive — perhaps even becoming unavailable — as the Russia-Ukraine military conflict continues.
Burns insisted that the U.S. must adjust its energy policy to relieve economic pressure on American citizens. He cited an estimate that the 1,179-mile pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Nebraska would have moved 830,000 barrels of oil per day. In March 2019, Donald Trump granted the project a presidential permit which Joe Biden canceled on his first day in office 21 months later.
“The United States cannot continue to rely so heavily on foreign oil when we have the resources to fuel our vehicles and heat our homes,” Burns wrote. “Reopening the Keystone XL Pipeline will start to ease the burden that Pennsylvanians are feeling every day and protect our national energy security going forward.”
In a similar message last week, State Senators Wayne Langerholc (R-Clearfield), Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) and Gene Yaw (R-Williamsport) announced they are drafting a pro-Keystone XL resolution for consideration in their chamber.
While Burns is the most prominent Democratic lawmaker in Pennsylvania to recently call on the president to restart the pipeline’s creation, a number of his fellow Democrats have endorsed the project in the past.
In January 2015, as Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama fought against building the oil conveyor, Congress passed a bill to authorize construction with the support of Senator Bob Casey as well as Democratic Representatives. Robert Brady (D-PA-1) and Mike Doyle (D-PA-18). The following month, Obama vetoed the measure.
The previous year, Casey spokesman John Rizzo told the press the senator “believes that the project could create jobs and bolster energy security.” Casey has since reversed himself, rejecting a 2021 amendment to support the pipeline.
Biden’s domestic critics aren’t the only ones who remain upset over the decision to stop Keystone XL. The province of Alberta filed a trade challenge via the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement — to recover the 1.3 billion Canadian dollars the province invested to create the oil channel. Pipeline builder TC Energy last year also filed a complaint seeking over $15 billion in damages.
According to Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry Chief Executive Officer Gene Barr, Russia has become the second-highest exporter of oil to the U.S. Many American officials and business leaders are thus exhorting Biden to restart the Keystone XL oil pipeline and rethink his general hostility to domestic fossil-fuel production.
The president has drawn particular scrutiny for halting new oil exploration on federally owned lands a week ago. His climate envoy, former Secretary of State John Kerry, also garnered criticism for fretting in a BBC interview that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will cause powerful nations to “be diverted” from attention to climate change.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Frank Burns” by Rep. Frank Burns. Background Photo “Pipes for the Keystone Pipeline” by shannonpatrick17. CC BY 2.0.
