The Biden administration has released a report acknowledging that its decision to end the federal permit process for the Keystone XL Pipeline, effectively halting the project, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and billions in lost revenue for the country as a whole.
The report, mandated by Congress and finalized by the Department of Energy (DOE) in December 2022, estimated that the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs during its construction and had a positive economic impact of between $3.4 billion and $9.6 billion.
Montana GOP Senator Steve Daines said the Biden administration had "finally owned up to what we've known all along, and that is that killing the Keystone XL Pipeline cost good paying jobs.”
“It hurt Montana's economy, and was the first step in the Biden administration's war on oil and gas production in the United States," he continued.
The Keystone XL Pipeline was designed to transport crude oil from Canada through eastern Montana to Steele City, Nebraska, while the existing Keystone line already carries oil from Canada through eastern North Dakota to Steele City. However, Biden canceled the project immediately after taking office as a direct concession to environmental activists.
In a statement to Fox News, the DOE pointed out that would have had minimal permanent job impacts, but failed to mention the thousands of jobs that would have been created during the pipeline's construction.
"The U.S. Department of Energy released a report evaluating existing analysis on economic and job effects of the XL portion of Keystone pipeline," the Department said. "It concluded there were limited job impacts, with approximately 50 permanent jobs estimated to have been created were the pipeline operational."
