President Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline came up Tuesday during a U.S. Senate hearing that featured Canadian officials who said, yes, the cancellation worsened supply chain issues between the two countries.
Sen. James Lankford was among those on the Senate Energy and Resources Committee who took part in the hearing that was designed to explore ways to strengthen the energy and mineral partnership between the U.S. and Canada.
But the pointed questions about Biden’s move to kill the proposed pipeline came from Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso who turned the hearing into a chance to make his point that the Biden executive order harmed the U.S. energy efforts.
He aimed his questions at Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, starting with whether the killing of the Keystone XL pipeline made it more difficult and expensive to move Canadian oil to U.S refineries.
Kenney was quick to answer with one word. “Yes.”
Barrasso: “So now Canadian oil, which would have traveled by pipe, will have to be moved by train, truck. Is this more or less environmentally friendly?”
Kenney: “Less.”
Barrasso: “Has killing the pipeline further exacerbated the supply chain issues between our two countries?”
Kenney: “Yes.”
Barrasso: “So is it fair to say that President Biden’s decision to kill the Keystone Pipeline increased costs, harmed the environment, and added to our supply chain troubles?”
Kenney: “I think that’s a reasonable conclusion.”
Barrasso: “You note in your testimony that Keystone would have been able to move 830,000 barrels a day Canadian oil, significantly more than the 670,000 barrels a day of oil we imported from Russia in 2021. If Keystone had been built, would Canada have been able to replace that Russian oil?”
Kenney: “Yes. In fact, the operator, TC Energy had contracts to move that 800,000 barrels plus per day.”
The Wyoming Republican’s questions also showed his criticism of Biden’s efforts to purchase oil from U.S. enemies.
“In your testimony you note that President Biden has pleaded with OPEC and Russia to increase oil output and has worked to remove sanctions on oil exports from Venezuela and Iran.
“At the same time, his administration continues to block access to energy resources and the infrastructure needed to move them in Alberta, and across the U.S. including in my home state of Wyoming.
During his opportunity to question the Canadian officials, U.S. Sen. Lankford touched on the Keystone cancellation and the President’s decision to purchase more oil from Russia and OPEC rather than Canada.
“That’s because we didn’t put a pipeline through the middle of the country,” explained Lankford.
Premier Kenney said as a result of the decision, Canada has been purchased to move oil by tanker to West Coast refineries.
“The veto of the XL reduces our ability to ship 830,000 barrels of oil a day,” he told Sen. Lankford.
During the hearing, Kenney used his platform to urge the U.S. government to convince Michigan to abandon the legal campaign against the Line 5 pipeline that carries oil from Canada to the U.S.
He told the hearing that Canada could add more than 1 million barrels a day of oil export capacity to the U.S. over the next two years and said there should be a new cross-border oil pipeline.
