by Matthew Miller | November 23, 2021

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, pressed President Joe Biden in a statement Tuesday to reinstate the Keystone XL oil pipeline amid gas shortages and soaring prices.

Manchin, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, made the statement after Biden announced his decision to tap into U.S. oil reserves .

“I continue to call on President Biden to responsibly increase energy production here at home and to reverse course to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built which would have provided our country with up to 900,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada, one of our closest allies,” Manchin said. “To be clear, this is about American energy independence and the fact that hard-working Americans should not depend on foreign actors, like OPEC+, for our energy security and instead focus on the real challenges facing our country’s future."

Manchin urged Biden to reconsider revoking a presidential permit for the long-delayed pipeline back in February, siding with Republicans who said the move would cost crucial jobs.

Manchin said that it and other pipelines “continue to be the safest mode to transport our oil and natural gas resources, and they support thousands of high-paying, American union jobs.″

Biden has firmly supported an anti-fossil fuel position, promising to do away with pipelines and drilling projects.

“This is the decade that will determine the answer. This decade,” Biden said during an international climate summit earlier this month. “The science is clear: We only have a brief window left before us to raise our ambitions and ... to meet the task that’s rapidly narrowing.”

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