Texas Power Crisis Puts Keystone XL Cancelation in Perspective

According to The Epoch Times, “Rolling blackouts in Texas have put the importance of oil pipelines into perspective, according to business executives.

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Ryan Palazzo, a former chief operating officer of a pipeline construction company and a resident of Houston, Texas, received text messages on Feb. 15 about rolling blackouts to protect the electricity grid which was strained by record low temperatures.  . .

“It’s not because there’s not enough natural gas. It’s because of the switch to renewables. They’re not able to, in the short term, keep the grid stable. It’s unfortunate, but energy is essential to everything that we do,” said Palazzo, who was laid off in November, right after the election.

Following the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline in July 2020, the owner of his company had a strong sense that the Keystone XL (KXL) project would be canceled as well and decided to downsize, according to Palazzo.

Biden’s executive order revoking the KXL permit was “obviously targeting a certain industry without real basis,” he said. . .

Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) data show that Texas has consistently increased electricity generation by wind farms, from 3 percent of total electricity capacity in 2007 to 25 percent in January 2021. 2020 was the first year that renewable sources generated more electricity than coal in Texas. . . .

There is no magic or silver bullet when it comes to energy, said Palazzo. Renewable energy, in particular wind and solar, is intermittent. A solar power plant uses 100 times of land as a traditional power plant, while a wind power plant takes up to 1,000 times.  They also need rare earth metal components, which take a significant amount of mining. “The [pipeline] spills are very, very, very rare. I think the public has just not been educated and honestly, haven’t taken the time to learn the facts about the renewables and what we do in the oil and gas.”

In addition to KXL, pipelines line 5 and line 3 also face protests and lawsuits. Canadian company Enbridge operates both. Line 5 passes the Straits of Mackinac, connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Environmental organizations are urging the Biden administration to cancel line 3, arguing that it is another KXL. Both KXL and line 3 are oil sand pipelines. . . .

No Benefits in Sight

The current time is challenging for Josh Williams, a pipeliner with 20 years in the industry. Union pipeliners have to keep working hours at a certain level to qualify for the benefits package, including health insurance and retirement 401(k) accounts. “I lost my insurance six months ago,” he told The Epoch Times.

He said that his local union 798 has a first-in and first-out job coordination system. Williams shared a union document showing that as of Feb. 12, 2021, 1,768 welders, 257 journeymen, and 1,990 helpers are “on the wheel,” meaning this many people are currently out of a job and looking for one. If a person is 1,001 on the list, he will need to wait for the first 1,000 to get jobs before it’s his turn. . . .

Some jobs require pipeliners to foot the travel cost to the job site before they start earning an income. . . .

Union Representation Questioned

Josh Williams is disappointed at the United Association (UA), the parent labor union of which his local 798 is an affiliate. He said that UA endorsed candidate Joe Biden during the election and sent members letters urging them to vote for Biden. “You can’t vote for somebody that’s going to shut your work down. You just can’t do that. Nobody in their right minds will do that.”

For some, the reality didn’t set in until the first week of the Biden administration, according to Williams. . . .

On Feb. 16, Gary Doer, former Canadian ambassador to the United States, said at a forum organized by the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute that Biden committed to canceling KXL trying to secure the nomination during the primary. In response to a question by The Epoch Times, he added, “I do think it’s unfortunate that the building trade delegates in the Democratic Party weren’t able to have as much power at the time in May of last year than the environmental lobbyists, particularly with the threat of [Sen. Bernie] Sanders still staying in the race.” He said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should focus on protecting line 5 and line 3 now.

Williams said that they started a local political action committee (PAC) to get signatures to petition governors and organizations. He said that the local PAC worked but not as much as it should have.

On Feb. 8, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order citing “the federal overreach and dismissal of Oklahoma’s constitutional ability to properly determine how to best develop its own natural resources.” . . .

Way of Life Attacked

“He [Biden] was attacking our profession, our industry, our lives, everything,” Williams told The Epoch Times.

“The big thing for me is the camaraderie, the family atmosphere, the brothers. It’s a brotherhood; it’s a sisterhood. The big thing on every job is when you’re away from your family, your immediate family, this is our family away from home. You build a lot of relationships; you get to meet new people. When I go to these jobs and projects, I try to find these guys’ names and become friends with them. And we all have the same interests at heart, every one of us.” Not having this is taking away his way of life, said Williams.

Palazzo has started with another pipeline construction company. Over the years he was with the previous company until November, he had overseen 3,500 miles of various pipelines, including oil from coast to coast. He often visited job sites.  . . .

He recalled that in Ohio when the COVID just hit, pipeliners organized food drives for the elderly. They donated N95 masks to local medical facilities. They made real burgers for the local first responders and medical personnel to stop by and pick up, all on the pipeliners’ own initiative. “The goal is always when you go in and do a project, you want to be a good neighbor, you respect the community and try to make it a better place while you are there.” . . .

Gov. Noem explains how Biden canceling Keystone pipeline is ‘devastating’ for South Dakota families

• Noem supports diversifying the country’s energy production but added that over-reliance on so-called “green energy” such as wind and solar can be dangerous, as evidenced by the massive power outages in Texas caused by frozen wind turbines this week amid record-low temperatures. . . .

According to BPR, “South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem criticized President Joe Biden’s decision to arbitrarily cancel the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, saying several smaller communities in her state were counting on the growth opportunity it would’ve brought them.

In an interview Tuesday with “Fox News Primetime,” Noem told host Rachel Campos-Duffy she supports diversifying the country’s energy production but added that over-reliance on so-called “green energy” such as wind and solar can be dangerous, as evidenced by the massive power outages in Texas caused by frozen wind turbines this week amid record-low temperatures. . . .

“The pipeline was being built through the state of South Dakota. In fact, they had already built a couple of pumping stations, they had the pipeline laid out ready to be installed, and then when he pulled the permits, everything just stopped,” Noem, a Republican, said. . . .

“There are so many families that have told their stories in recent days about the devastation to them and their incomes and businesses.  . . .

“They were excited about the opportunities to get the property taxes in these local small schools from the pipeline. It was always going to be a source of revenue that would help them keep their roads fixed and commerce going and make sure that their teachers could be well-paid. In a lot of these remote areas … that is a little challenging,” Noem continued.

Biden signed an order halting the pipeline’s construction on his first day in office, as well as additional orders halting fracking and new oil and gas leases on federal lands. His actions were immediately lambasted by a range of critics including trade unions, economists, and Native American tribes.

In a letter to acting Secretary of the Interior Scott de la Vega, Luke Duncan, chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee, called Biden’s orders “a direct attack on our economy, sovereignty, and our right to self-determination.”

The tribe has operated an oil-and-gas operation on its 4.5 million-acre reservation for seven decades.

In addition, Reps. Vincente Gonzalez, Lizzie Fletcher, Henry Cuellar, and Marc Veasey — all Texas Democrats — sent a letter to Biden late last month asking him to rescind them for the sake of economies in their districts.  . . .

Unions, which Biden courted during his campaign, also blasted his orders.

“The Biden Administration’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline permit on day one of his presidency is both insulting and disappointing to the thousands of hard-working … members who will lose good-paying, middle-class family-supporting jobs,” Terry O’Sullivan, the general president of the Laborers International Union of North America, said.

Fourteen state attorneys general, including South Dakota AG Jason R. Ravnsborg, have since warned they would sue the administration if Biden refused to rescind his pipeline cancellation. . . .

“I think for a lot of families in the state of South Dakota, it was devastating,” she said, adding that transporting oil via the pipeline would have been “much safer” than transporting it by truck and by rail, as is now being done.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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