Trump promised nearly 30,000 jobs as a result of the construction of the Keystone Pipeline while signing the memorandum for that project. He also signed a memorandum on the Dakota Access Pipeline and announced that construction of both pipelines would be \"subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated by us.\"
\"This is with regard to the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, something that's been in dispute ... We'll see if we can get that pipeline built,\" Trump said. \"A lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs. Great construction jobs.\"
In a 2014 interview with ABC News, Russ Girling, the CEO of TransCanada, the company developing the Keystone pipeline, said that the thousands of jobs created will be during the major construction period. Yes, the actual operating jobs are about 50,\" he said. \"But that doesn't include all the other jobs that come with it.\"
The Keystone XL project was killed when President Barack Obama rejected in November 2015 a presidential permit that was necessary because the project would cross from Canada into the United States. The 1,179-mile pipeline, which would stretch from Canada through Nebraska to the Gulf Coast, was supported by Republicans and some Democrats who said the project wouldn't harm the environment and would create thousands of construction jobs as well as decrease America's dependence on oil imports from the Middle East. But opponents argued it would contribute to climate change by producing more greenhouse gases through the extraction of petroleum from oil sands.
The other pipeline that Trump addressed today, the Dakota Access Pipeline, was put on hold in December 2016 when the Army Corps of Engineers denied a crucial easement needed for the project to cross under Lake Oahe, a large reservoir on the Missouri River in North Dakota just upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation. The Corps said it made that decision in order to have other routes explored.
Construction of the pipeline prompted big, prolonged protests with thousands of Native Americans, environmental activists and allies camping out for months near the Standing Rock reservation. The tribe in July sued to block the four-state crude oil project, claiming that the tribe was never meaningfully consulted before construction began. That lawsuit is still pending and the Corps and pipeline company argued in court papers that they followed a standard review process. The tribe also cites an 1851 treaty that it says specifies that the land in question was designated for Native American tribes.
\"President Trump is legally required to honor our treaty rights and provide a fair and reasonable pipeline process,\" said Dave Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. \"Americans know this pipeline was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent. The existing pipeline route risks infringing on our treaty rights, contaminating our water and the water of 17 million Americans downstream.\"
Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and Trump's pick for energy secretary, stepped down earlier this month from the boards of two energy companies that are developing the proposed 1,170-mile pipeline. Perry said he still owns stock in both companies but will divest the stock within three months of his confirmation. He also said he will not partake in any decision involving the two companies for at least two years.
\"If we are going to build pipelines in the United States, the pipes should be built in the United States,\" he said. \"We build the pipelines, we want to build the pipe, going to put a lot of workers, lot of stee workers back to work.\"
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