Campaign officials made Biden’s first policy pronouncements on the controversial cross-border pipeline expansion, designed to ferry Alberta oilsands bitumen to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, in a statement today to Politico.
Biden is no stranger to standing in the way of the Calgary-based TC Energy project, which he first opposed as a member of Barack Obama’s administration, which formally blocked construction in 2015.
Trump has since approved construction permits for the project, but a federal judge in Montana halted construction last month after environmental groups complained that the impact on endangered species in the state hadn’t been properly assessed.
The expansion — a 1,900-kilometre line between Alberta and Nebraska — has been beset by delays, protests and injunctions almost since its inception, and became a major flashpoint in 2011 when celebrity-studded protests outside the White House helped crystallize environmental opposition to the energy sector.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, meanwhile, has committed $1.1 billion to the project as his Conservative government extends outreach efforts in the U.S. in hopes of breathing new life into a sector hit hard by record-low oil prices and the economic impact of COVID-19.