Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 45

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

A Biden administration
could pose a threat to
major pipeline projects,
though this is not yet
clear.

accounts for very little of the US’ overall oil and the environmental movement puts its existence
gas development, but New Mexico’s portion of under threat as he seeks to make environmental
the Permian Basin could be affected, as could issues more of a priority than his predecessor.
land in Wyoming. On the other hand, it has been suggested that in
the wake of the pandemic, it would be compar-
Problems in the pipeline atively easy for Biden to reverse course on the
In addition, there are now concerns over the fate pipeline in order to use it for job creation.
of certain major pipeline projects under a Biden “The trouble with Keystone XL is that it’s
administration. No clear picture has emerged, valuable to the United States, but it’s so sym-
but there is speculation that Biden could seek bolic to the environmental movement,” Dennis
to continue the policies of former US Presi- McConaghy, a former TC Energy executive who How much power
dent Barack Obama – under whom he served oversaw the pipeline project during Obama’s
as Vice-President. This could potentially spell presidency, was quoted by Canada’s Financial Biden would have
trouble for the existing Dakota Access pipeline, Post as saying last week. to push through
which is currently embroiled in a legal battle to
continue operating, while the US Army Corps Fighting for control legislation
of Engineers carries out a new environmental How much power Biden would have to push
review for the project. through legislation remains unknown thanks to remains unknown
It has been suggested that Biden could bring the still-unknown outcome of Senate elections.
in new leadership at the Army Corps, which As of this week, the question of which party will thanks to the
would decrease Dakota Access’ chances of sur- control the Senate appeared to have come down still-unknown
viving the environmental review. to a double runoff election in Georgia, which is
Illustrating how Biden’s presidency will have set to take place in January. outcome of
an impact beyond the US, the Keystone XL Democrats would need to win both seats in
pipeline from Canada now also faces an uncer- the runoff in order to take control of the Senate Senate elections.
tain future. Obama declined to grant a presiden- – formerly an unlikely outcome, but results in
tial permit for Keystone XL during his time in the first round saw the Democrats come within
office, though one was subsequently awarded 1-2 percentage points of winning more votes
by Trump. Biden has continued to oppose Key- than the Republicans. The race will be tight and
stone XL – whose construction is also being while the Republicans were in the lead in the
delayed by legal challenges over a certain per- first round of voting, that lead is a narrow one
mit – and the pipeline’s symbolic meaning to and there is still everything to play for.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 12•November•2020