Washington, United States:
President Joe Biden’s very first get in touch with to a foreign leader will be to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki mentioned Wednesday — with the fate of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on the agenda.
“His first foreign leader call will be on Friday with Prime Minister Trudeau,” Psaki told reporters at her very first White House briefing.
She mentioned they would talk about their “important relationship,” and the Biden administration’s choice to halt additional building of the Keystone XL oil pipeline among Canada and the United States.
Trudeau mentioned he was “disappointed” by the move, which came shortly immediately after Biden took workplace.
“While we welcome the president’s commitment to fight climate change, we are disappointed but acknowledge the President’s decision to fulfill his election campaign promise on Keystone XL,” Trudeau mentioned in a statement.
“I look forward to working with President Biden to reduce pollution, combat climate change, fight Covid-19, create middle class jobs, and build back better by supporting a sustainable economic recovery for everyone.”
TC Energy, the Canadian organization behind the pipeline, suspended building of the partially completed oil conduit earlier Wednesday, saying the move would imply thousands of lost jobs.
“The decision would overturn an unprecedented, comprehensive regulatory process that lasted more than a decade and repeatedly concluded the pipeline would transport much needed energy in an environmentally responsible way while enhancing North American energy security,” it mentioned.
Canadian regulators authorized the project in 2010 but it was blocked by president Barack Obama in 2015 due to environmental issues — a choice that his successor Donald Trump reversed in 2017.
While Ottawa has usually supported the project, environmental groups and indigenous groups have steadfastly cried foul.
The 1,210-mile (1,947-kilometer) pipeline, beginning in 2023, was to transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from the Alberta oil sands to Nebraska and then by way of an current method to refineries in coastal Texas.
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