Signaling his commitment to quickly confront climate change, President-elect Joe Biden is planning to move within days to quash the controversial multibillion-dollar Keystone XL pipeline, according to two individuals familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it had not been announced yet. The politically symbolic pipeline, promoted by the oil and gas industry since it was first proposed about 15 years ago, has drawn opposition because it would carry tar sands, or heavy bitumen, from the boreal forests of northern Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The energy used in extracting these molasses-like petroleum supplies would contribute heavily to climate change.
The move is one of a flurry of environmental actions Biden plans to take after being sworn into office Wednesday. He has already announced that he will rejoin the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change on his first day as president, and his aides are looking at other policies ranging from approving wind projects off the East Coast to restoring protections for national monuments that President Trump unilaterally undercut.
“Building new infrastructure like the Keystone XL pipeline, which would result in millions of tons of new carbon emissions, just adds fuel to a fire that’s already burning down our house,” Matt Casale, environment campaigns director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “After four years of environmental setbacks, this is just one of a broader set of early actions we expect to see President Biden take to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, accelerate the transition to renewable energy and protect our cherished public lands and oceans.”
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