Unions Wanted Biden. Now They’re Blasting Him Over Killing Keystone XL

[Ubiquitous]

Unions that delighted in pushing Joe Biden for president during the
presidential campaign in 2020 are condemning his decision to cancel the
Keystone XL pipeline.

On Wednesday, Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, killing an
estimated 11,000 American jobs. “TC Energy Corporation, the Canadian
company behind the Keystone XL pipeline project, said they would cut
more than 11,000 jobs,” The Blaze reported.

Only days after former president Donald Trump was inaugurated in
January 2017, he restarted the efforts to complete the Keystone XL and
Dakota Access oil pipelines by imposing a deadline on the government’s
environmental review of the pipelines. TransCanada Corp.’s proposed
Keystone XL was intended to transport Alberta oil sands to U.S.
refineries.

The Obama administration had rejected the Keystone proposal in November
2015 and had blocked Dakota Access since September of 2016. Reuters
reported, “TransCanada Corp said it would resubmit an application for a
permit for Keystone XL after Trump signed an order saying the company
could re-apply. The application will be reviewed by the U.S. State
Department, which has 60 days to reach a decision.”

On Wednesday, Biden issued an executive order stating:

On March 29, 2019, the President granted to TransCanada
Keystone Pipeline, L.P. a Presidential permit (the “Permit”)
to construct, connect, operate, and maintain pipeline
facilities at the international border of the United States
and Canada (the “Keystone XL pipeline”), subject to express
conditions and potential revocation in the President’s sole
discretion. The Permit is hereby revoked in accordance with
Article 1(1) of the Permit. The Keystone XL pipeline disserves
the U.S. national interest. The United States and the world
face a climate crisis. That crisis must be met with action
on a scale and at a speed commensurate with the need to avoid
setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic,
climate trajectory. … Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit
in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s
economic and climate imperatives.

Unions which hitherto had championed Biden were furious.

On September 7, 2020, Terry O’Sullivan, General President of LIUNA –
the Laborers’ International Union of North America, issued an
endorsement of the Bide-Harris presidential ticket, writing:

After discussions with our leaders and members, the General
Executive Board of the Laborers’ International Union of North
America (LIUNA) unanimously, enthusiastically, and proudly
endorses Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris
for President and Vice President of the United States of
America. As we celebrate Labor Day 2020, and remember the
strife and struggle of those who came before us, Joe Biden
and Kamala Harris stand out as the blue-collar candidates…

Joe Biden is one of us; he knows, first hand, the trials and
tribulations faced by working men and women across this
country. …Over the crucial next few months, the 500,000 strong,
proud, and united men and women of LIUNA will be on the front
lines relentlessly working to elect Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris, and leading the way to fulfill their mantra of “Build
Back Better.”

But last week, after hearing that Biden would kill the Keystone XL
pipeline, the union tweeted: “Pipeline construction has been a lifeline
for many #LIUNA members across the country. The anticipated decision to
cancel the #KeysonePipeline will kill thousands of good-paying #UNION
jobs!”

In August, the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters
endorsed Biden. But on January 18, anticipating Biden’s announcement
about the pipeline, Mark McManus, General President of the United
Association, released a statement which said:

In revoking this permit, the Biden Administration has chosen
to listen to the voices of fringe activists instead of union
members and the American consumer on Day 1. Let me be very
clear: When built with union labor by the men and women of
the United Association, pipelines like Keystone XL remain the
safest and most efficient modes of energy transportation in
the world. Sadly, the Biden Administration has now put
thousands of union workers out of work. For the average
American family, it means energy costs will go up and
communities will no longer see the local investments that come
with pipeline construction.

In October, the North American Building Trades Unions endorsed Biden.
But NABTU’s president Sean McGarvey said the day after Biden’s
executive order that the organization was “deeply disappointed in the
decision” of TC Energy to cut jobs. He stated, “Environmental
ideologues have now prevailed, and over a thousand union men and women
have been terminated from employment on the project.”

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Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
love this country.