Several news sources, including CTV News, noticed President Trump’s slip of the tongue when he was bragging about bringing thousands of jobs to Americans. But his statement about the “Keystone XL pipeline I approved recently” was not only premature, but incorrect.
Digital Journal reported on January 24 that Trump signed two orders, fulfilling a campaign promise giving the oil industry more freedom to expand its infrastructure. The orders allowed for the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL pipeline projects to move forward.
We have already seen what the order involved in moving the DAPL forward. The DAPL needed the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to grant an easement to build under Lake Oahe. This was quickly done after the Corps of Engineers was ordered to comply.
President Trump’s order on the Keystone XL Pipeline asked TransCanada Corp. to resubmit their request for a permit to construct the pipeline across the U.S. border with Canada. The pipeline still needs to go through the regulatory process and negotiations have to be ironed out. TransCanada has resubmitted their request.
Trump has said he would negotiate some of the terms of the project, but any pipeline used would need to be made in America using American labor and steel. TransCanada says it will have to review how Trump’s “buy-America” plan will impact the company, reports the Associated Press.
