WASHINGTON – It took President Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Interior, Rep. Deb Haaland, four times to answer U.S. Senator Jim Risch’s question: “Do you support the President’s action to shut down the Keystone Pipeline?”

Once she finally confirmed that she supports shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline and the thousands of American jobs it provides, it took Rep. Haaland an additional two times to answer why she supports shutting down the pipeline.

“One of the reasons I’m pressing you on this is I’m having real trouble reconciling [the move to shut down the Keystone Pipeline] with the fact that we can’t get the Administration to shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,” Risch told Haaland.

Senator Risch continued, “How do you square shutting down jobs in the energy sector in the United States but yet permitting – and indeed encouraging – jobs in the energy sector in Russia? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

To watch Risch’s Keystone Pipeline questioning on YouTube, click here.
To download the video file of Risch’s Keystone Pipeline questioning, click here. 

To download the video file of Risch’s full line of questioning, click here.

Background:

Senator Risch, a senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has described the Biden administration’s move to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline as “flat wrong,” characterizing the project as “a linchpin of America’s energy independence and job creation strategy.” 

Senator Risch serves as the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been instrumental in the bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate to halt construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. If completed, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline would increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia and endanger U.S. national security interests.

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