Energy workers have not forgotten and will not forgive Biden for killing jobs in Keystone XL: “This is not American”

EXCLUSIVE: Power the Future, a group representing American energy interests, released a video criticizing the Biden administration for its decision two years ago to abandon the Keystone XL pipeline.

The video, first obtained by Fox News Digital, notes that the cancellation of the pipeline, which President Biden ordered on his first day in office in January 2021, has resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs. He also highlighted comments made by Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry after the cancellation, arguing that fossil fuel jobs would be replaced by clean energy jobs.

“The President of the United States, in every comment he made about the climate, expressed the need for growth—new jobs that pay better and are cleaner,” Kerry told reporters on January 27, 2021.

“You look at the consequences of a black lung on a miner, for example, and you compare that to the fastest growing profession in the United States before COVID, solar energy technician,” he continued. “These jobs can be done by the same people, but going solar is the best choice right now. Similarly, you have the second fastest growing occupation, pre-COVID, was wind turbine technician. It happens”.

‘I LITERALLY CRYED’: FORMER KEYSTONE XL WORKERS STILL TWO YEARS AFTER THE BIDEN PIPELINE

Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Action John Kerry speaks at a press briefing at the White House on January 27, 2021.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)

“Unfortunately, the workers were fed false information. Nothing surprising, right? Kerry said. “For the past few years, they have been told that the fight against the climate is somehow happening at their expense. No, it’s not. What happens to them is because other market forces are already at work.”

However, Power the Future included various media reports in its video showing the reduction and loss of green energy jobs in the solar and wind industries. The group also interviewed power engineers, who refuted the idea that they could easily switch from one industry or specialty to another, as suggested by Kerry.

UNIONS REPRESENTING FIRED KEYSTONE XL WORKERS ARE SILENT AFTER THOUSANDS OF JOB LOSSES REPORT

“It’s very easy to say, ‘Hey, you can find another job.’ But they have to take into account the fact that it took us to get here,” said one of the workers in the video.

Another worker said it was “un-American” for Biden to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline with a “stroke of a pen.”

President Joe Biden signs his first executive orders, including revoking federal permits to build the Keystone XL pipeline, at the White House on January 20, 2021.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)

TC Energy, operator of the Keystone XL pipeline, ultimately abandoned the project in June 2021 as a result of Biden’s decision to revoke his federal permits. And last year, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by nearly two dozen states asking the court to reinstate pipeline permits.

The pipeline was due to be completed earlier this year and transport an additional 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the US through the existing pipeline network, according to TC Energy. It also planned to create thousands of jobs, many of which would be unionized.

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In December, the Department of Energy released a report approved by Congress showing that the project would create 16,149 to 59,468 construction jobs, last approximately two years, and have a positive economic impact of $3.4 billion to $9.6 billion. A labor agreement for the project, signed only in August 2020, promised that the pipeline would create 42,000 U.S. jobs and generate $2 billion in total wages.

This file photo shows a storage facility used to store pipes in Gascoigne, North Dakota for the Keystone XL pipeline.
(Reuters)

“From canceling Keystone to trying to get rid of our gas stoves, Joe Biden pushed forward with his failed program and didn’t stop from day one,” said Daniel Turner, founder and CEO of Power the Future, in a statement broadcast by Fox News. Digital. “It’s a pitiful coincidence that as this anniversary approaches, John Kerry is back in Europe lecturing to our families.”

“Joe Biden’s stock was worth tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars, and every American family is still paying more every day,” Turner added.

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Kerry took part in the World Economic Forum Conference – a summit where international government and business leaders gather to discuss topics including climate change – taking place this week in Switzerland. On Tuesday, he was criticized after saying during a summit event that efforts to save the planet from climate change were “almost extraterrestrial” given their scale.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.