When Joe Biden was running for the highest office in the land, he was clear on one point. He was going to build this economy. His “Build Back Better” plan would use the pandemic decimated landscape as the fertile ground in which he would plant the seeds of our booming economy and jobs would be had by all. Now, just a week after he took office, he has created zero jobs. He has been busy cutting them, though.
On his first day in office, he killed the Keystone XL pipeline deal. The immediate effect of which was the loss of 11,000 jobs. While this number is significant by itself, it only tells a portion of the story. Beyond the immediate loss of jobs, there are long term effects we must consider. Ignoring the insult to the Canadian government and the loss of billions of dollars they have invested in the project, as well as all of the jobs lost North of our borders, the effects of killing this project only serve to help our enemies and hurt the environment.
With the Keystone Pipeline shelved indefinitely, our demand for oil will not be diminished, only our supply. This forces the United States to seek foreign oil to fill the shortages. President Trump worked tirelessly to ensure our energy independence, and President Biden is working to reverse that.
The US may now be forced to buy oil from Iran, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. The rest of the world certainly will. The Democrats are up in arms over the idea that the Keystone pipeline is not environmentally friendly, a point that the Obama administration disproved years ago, despite denying the necessary permits needed for its construction. It is safer, cheaper, and less impactful to the environment to ship oil by pipeline than it would be to ship it by truck, train, or boat. It would also be more prudent to use the pipeline for its positive impact on the American job market than to shelve the idea and line the pockets of other oil-producing nations I’ve mentioned.
Killing the pipeline isn’t an environmentally friendly option. The United States adheres to strict environmental guidelines in the drilling, shipping, and handling of oil that other countries do not bother with. Under the Trump administration, the US reduced carbon emissions more than any other country in the world. If we aren’t producing the oil, that leaves an opportunity for other countries to fill the gap. They will happily do so, without the restrictions, oversight, or protection for the environment getting in the way. By killing the Keystone XL project, President Biden has opened the door to an environmental crisis elsewhere in the world.
Beyond the job-killing Keystone reversal, President Biden has also rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, a reversal of Trump’s efforts. The Paris Climate Accord is projected to kill more than 6 million jobs and cost the United States 3 trillion dollars in economic growth by 2040, according to a 2017 study released by an economic research firm on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Council for Capital Formation. The impact on China during this time will be essentially zero, effectively hindering the US while China can grow.
President Biden has not restricted his job-killing to the energy industry though. President Biden has also killed jobs at our Southern Border with an Executive Order aimed at stopping the border wall construction. Steelworkers and tradesmen that were employed on the project may not be employed for much longer. Add in the ancillary services involved, and that’s another 10,500 jobs gone.
The American people voted for Joe Biden in record numbers, or so we’re told. Is this what those Americans were voting for? If the first week of his presidency is any indication of the future, Americans should be very concerned about the next 4 years. Renewing our dependence on foreign oil and destroying the jobs that exist therein is not the way to kickstart the economy. Likewise, killing off public works projects like the border wall and all the jobs President Trump created with the undertaking will not have a positive impact.
Our economy was already in trouble due to a global pandemic, a concerted effort aimed at killing more jobs is not the answer. President Biden should rethink his plan for the good of America and the American worker.
