Environmental Disaster: Trump Plans To Advance Keystone, Dakota Access Pipelines
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump plans to sign two executive actions on Tuesday to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, an administration official told Reuters.
The move comes after months-long protests by environmentalists and Native American groups in North Dakota against Energy Transfer Partners LP’s $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which would bring crude oil from the state’s Bakken oil patch through the Midwest and into the U.S. Gulf Coast.
A company spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Under former president Barack Obama, Transcanada Corp’s Keystone XL oil pipeline was rejected in 2015 after environmentalists campaigned against the project for more than seven years. Transcanada declined to comment.
Trump’s action, which comes in his fourth full day in office, would be a boon for oil producers concerned about limited pipeline capacity bringing oil to market.
(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru and Catherine Ngai in New York; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
IMAGE: Benji Buffalo (R) greets a friend to his campsite inside of the Oceti Sakowin camp as “water protectors” continue to demonstrate against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
