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WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 16: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) talks on the phone outside of a lunch meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol November 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the Senate hopes to vote on the long-delayed annual defense policy bill this week.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is urging United States President Joe Biden to revive the Keystone XL Pipeline as the American leader faces widespread criticism for his decision with some lawmakers saying he has endangered U.S. energy security.
The situation comes after President Biden made the decision to tap into the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve to distribute roughly 50 million oil barrels. The efforts were made in an attempt to curb the rising prices of gas in the region.
Keystone XL Pipeline
In a statement, Manchin said that Biden's policy was a "band-aid" solution and argued that Biden was creating a self-inflicted wound on the United States. The Democratic senator said that the release of oil barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve did not address the energy issues that were plaguing the country.
"With an energy transition underway across the country, it is critical that Washington does not jeopardize America's energy security in the near term and leave consumers vulnerable to rising prices. Historic inflation taxes and the lack of a comprehensive all-of-the-above energy policy pose a clear and present threat to Americans' economic and energy security that can no longer be ignored. I continue to call on President Biden to responsibility increase energy production here at home and to reverse course to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built," said Manchin in his statement, Fox Business reported.
Manchin, who is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said that Biden's decision to release millions of oil barrels was a "shortsighted energy policy." He argued that the Keystone pipeline would have provided up to 900,000 oil barrels per day from Canada, which is one of the country's closest international allies.
The Democratic senator continues to argue that Americans should not be depending on foreign actors, including OPEC+, to provide energy security. Manchin said that the federal government should instead focus its attention on the real challenges that are facing the country's future.
Millions of Oil Barrels
On Tuesday, Biden announced the release of the 50 million oil barrels from the strategic reserve at around 7:00 a.m. At the time, millions of Americans were preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday and faced gas prices that were approximately $1.29 more expensive compared to last year, the New York Post reported.
The situation also comes as the company responsible for the canceled multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline filed a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to recover economic damages or "lost investment," resulting from the cancellation of the project.
On Monday, TC Energy Corporation released a statement that revealed it had already filed a request for arbitration under a NAFTA provision. The company said that it "allows companies to seek compensation for lost investment" which the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline caused.
In June, TC Energy said that it had terminated the Keystone XL project after a "comprehensive review of its options." The company said that it consulted with the government of Alberta, which is its partner and an oil-rich province in western Canada, Aljazeera reported.
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