Developer has pulled the plug on the Keystone XL pipeline. https://t.co/e4T1r06XuA
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) June 9, 2021
The Invisible Hand of the Market gives Keystone XL two thumbs down, with no little assistance from the Biden administration. Mr Pierce, at Esquire, takes a well-earned victory lap — “The Keystone Pipeline Defeat Is a Rare Example of Democratic Political Dexterity in the Heartland”:
… For a decade, the fight over the pipeline went on. The project was on, then it was off again. Egregious lies were told, especially about the economic benefits of the death funnel. Dire predictions were made about the consequences of a leak in the pipeline so close to the Ogallala Aquifer, the massive freshwater source for almost all the arable farmland of the Great Plains. (TransCanada’s other pipelines have leaked because they were pipelines, and pipelines leak.) There were hearings and votes and the national government changed twice. And late Wednesday afternoon, Randy Thompson and all the other people who took on this hopeless fight…won.
“On the day he was inaugurated, Mr. Biden, who has vowed to make tackling climate change a centerpiece of his administration, rescinded the construction permit for the pipeline, which developers had sought to build for over a decade. That same day, TC Energy, the company behind the project, said it was suspending work on the line. On Wednesday, the company wrote in a statement that it “will continue to coordinate with regulators, stakeholders and Indigenous groups to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments and ensure a safe termination of and exit from the project.”
One hesitates to declare this project dead because it has rolled back the stone a number of times over the past 10 years, but this seems final. TC Energy, TransCanada’s latest nom de pillage, seems to have surrendered…
At a time in which nothing seems to be moving in the correct direction, especially as regards the climate crisis, this is an underdog’s victory over which to rejoice. I am happy for Randy Thompson, who can look out over his fields again and not worry about somebody with a clipboard.
Not as prominent on the front pages, but also significant:
The Biden administration is moving to restore clean-water safeguards ended by President Donald Trump. The Trump-era rule ended federal protections for hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways. https://t.co/gsvAzM4Qgt
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 10, 2021
Nature & Respite Open Thread: Some Good NewsPost + Comments (24)
