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A News Story From An Alternate Dimension
Biden set to snub a key ally by an authoritarian act:
U.S. president-elect Joe Biden has indicated plans to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit via executive action on his first day in office, sources confirmed to CBC News on Sunday.
A purported briefing note from the Biden transition team mentioning the plan was widely circulated over the weekend after being shared by the incoming president’s team with U.S. stakeholders.
The transition document suggests that Canada has not been able to persuade the incoming Biden administration of the benefits of the pipeline expansion project.
The move stoked concerns that Biden was capitulating to radical members of his party who traffic in apocalyptic scenarios:
Sources have expressed alarm about Biden’s proposal, calling it anti-union and anti-science, and point out how the Executive Action continues the systemic racism that has characterized the government’s treatment of Indigenous people:
TC Energy said in a release late Sunday that the company plans to spend $1.7 billion US on a solar, wind and battery-powered operating system for the pipeline, hire a union-only workforce, sign Indigenous equity partners and establish zero-emissions operations by 2030, all with an eye toward securing Biden’s approval.
Canadian leaders have warned that the move may embolden not only Putin, but Saudi Arabia, whose repressive policies towards women and LBGTQ+ persons remain problematic:
“Doing so would kill jobs on both sides of the border, weaken the critically important Canada-U.S. relationship and undermine U.S. national security by making the United States more dependent on OPEC oil imports in the future,” Kenney said.
A former official in the State Department expressed concern, noting that Biden’s first act would not only make America less safe and dependent on foreign governments, but alienate a key ally at a time when combatting rising white supremacism was a mutual concern. The move comes as Congressional committees expressed interest in investigating two groups, Climate Leaders for Biden and Clean Energy for Biden, which raised millions for Biden in 2020.
Published in General
Yes but the photos and stories I’ve seen were that the under-Canadian-border part of Phase 4 began almost a year ago and might be completed by now. If that’s the only part of the pipeline that the Feds have any say over, then it seems like they should be able to continue with the rest, unobstructed. But I guess we’ll find out.