Trump Signs Orders To Move Forward With The Dakota Access Pipeline
Donald Trump has only in office for five days and has already started to undo policies former President Obama has done, this one in particular involves the Dakota Access Pipeline. Today Trump signed an order to advance Keystone XL, Dakota Access pipelines.
"This is about streamlining the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible, permitting process," Trump said in an Oval Office signing ceremony that has already become a trademark of his short presidency.
In reversing the Obama administration policy to disapprove the Keystone pipeline, Trump emphasized that the construction isn't a done deal. "It's something that subject to a renegotiation of terms by us," he said. "We'll see if we can get the pipeline built. A lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs."
Keystone XL became a lightning rod for Obama's energy policy, with the administration taking seven years to make a decision before ultimately killing it over environmental concerns. Environmental groups reacted quickly and vociferously, promising legal action and White House protests.
There have been many protest from environmentalists because this will encourage the development of Canada's oil sand, which requires more energy to tap than conventional reserves.
