Keystone Pipeline developer seeks $15 billion in damages over Biden's decision to cancel project
By Cameron Arcand, The Western Journal
Published July 6, 2021 at 10:00pm

The developer of the Keystone Pipeline is taking legal action to fight back against the Biden administration's Inauguration Day order to cancel the project as part of its efforts to combat climate change.

TC Energy, a Canadian company, announced in a news release that it had filed a notice of intent to bring a claim against the Biden administration under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"TC Energy will be seeking to recover more than US$15 billion in damages that it has suffered as a result of the U.S. Government’s breach of its NAFTA obligations," the release stated.

"The Notice of Intent was filed with the U.S. Department of State."

This course of action is completely justified. President Joe Biden's reckless decision to scrap the pipeline killed over a thousand jobs on the spot.

The project had the potential to provide even more work for blue-collar workers. TC Energy estimated up to 11,000 jobs would have been created if the project had been followed all the way through.

Yet Biden claimed in his executive order that "the Keystone XL pipeline disserves the U.S. national interest."

"The United States and the world face a climate crisis," he said. "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."

It didn't even take Biden a single day in office to launch a direct attack on workers.

He is pushing a horribly one-sided view of the fossil fuel industry that ignores the average Americans who depend on it.

And let's not forget how he completely blindsided the unions that endorsed him in the 2020 election.

“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," Mark McManus, president of the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters, said in a January statement.

"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," he continued.

The reality is that Democratic leaders will choose Ivy League-educated climate change alarmists over blue-collar Americans any day of the week.

Politicians who actively seek to destroy the fossil fuel industry without a viable alternative in place see union workers as nothing more than a voter group.

TC Energy has every right to seek damages for the president's job-killing executive order.

The Biden administration keeps thinking it can get away with swift unilateral actions to further its agenda, and it's about time the private sector held it accountable.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

https://www.wnd.com/2021/07/keystone-pip..._es=%5B-MD5-%5D

And ...

North Dakota Sues Biden Administration Over Suspension of Oil, Gas Lease Sales
BY ZACHARY STIEBER July 8, 2021 Updated: July 8, 2021

North Dakota on July 8 sued President Joe Biden’s administration over its cancellation of a planned auction of oil and gas leases.

Under the Mineral Leasing Act, lease sales must be held at least once a quarter in each state where eligible lands are available. But the lease sale scheduled for March was canceled and a regularly scheduled sale pegged for June was not held.

North Dakota officials said in the lawsuit, filed in federal court, that the illegal cancellations appeared to be in response to a Biden executive order that directed the secretary of the Interior to “pause new oil and natural gas leases” provided doing so was consistent with the law.

“Ignoring the Executive Orders admonition to act consistent with applicable law, the Federal Defendants’ actions violated several Federal statutes and exceeded their limited scope of discretionary authority,” the 30-page suit states.

The impact of the actions was compounded because the blocked development of federal lands has led to a delay in developing state and private interests, the suit added.

“I have taken this action to protect North Dakota’s economy, the jobs of our hard-working citizens, and North Dakota’s rights to control its own natural resources,” said North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a Republican, in a statement announcing the filing.

The cost of the cancellations is already over $80 million, a number that could enter the billions unless the administration’s actions are stopped, Stenehjem asserted.

The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, two of the named defendants, declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Administration officials have also canceled or postponed lease sales in other states after Biden’s order was issued. Biden has said he wants to push the country to adopt alternative forms of energy at a faster pace.

Biden in his order claimed that climate change has “become a climate crisis” and necessitates urgent action to combat it.

“There is little time left to avoid setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic, climate trajectory. Responding to the climate crisis will require both significant short-term global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and net-zero global emissions by mid-century or before,” he wrote.

More recently, Biden said he wants to end tax breaks for oil companies, even as gas prices remain above $3 a gallon in most of the United States.

A federal judge in Louisiana last month blocked the suspension of the sales, ruling in favor of 13 states led by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican.

The Biden administration failed to adequately explain why it was canceling sales, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump nominee, said in his ruling.

“The omission of any rational explanation in canceling the lease sales, and in enacting the Pause, results in this Court ruling that Plaintiff States also have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of this claim,” he wrote.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breaki...51i9rRz7w%3D%3D