Kenney vents Keystone XL frustration on Fox News, calls for 'compensation' from Biden admin

Keystone fallout continues as Trudeau speaks to Biden Trudeau was expected to speak to U.S. President Biden on Friday, and many were hoping the Keystone pipeline would be part of the discussion

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney appeared as a guest on American cable network Fox News Friday afternoon, where he lamented U.S. President Joe Biden's Keystone XL cancellation and said those who invested in the pipeline should be compensated by the U.S. government.

“Well, first we congratulate President Biden on his inauguration and election and hope to have a really close and strong relationship,” said Kenney in an interview with The Story host, Martha MacCallum.

Kenney told MacCallum Alberta ships $100 billion worth of energy to the U.S. annually and that KXL would’ve increased that shipment in "safe, modern" way.

“And it is very frustrating that one of the first acts of the new president was, I think, to disrespect America's closest friend and ally, Canada, and to kill good paying union jobs on both sides of the border, and ultimately to make the United States more dependent on foreign oil imports from OPEC dictatorships. We don’t understand it,” Kenney said.

“At the very least, we believe that those who have invested in this project, trusting in the regulatory process in the U.S., should be compensated by the U.S. administration.”

In March 2020, the Alberta government invested at least $1.5 billion in KXL, a decision Kenney has said he does not regret.

Kenney has been vocal in his opinion of the Biden executive order that revoked KXL’s permit, essentially killing the project that was revived by former president Donald Trump four years earlier. Trump’s executive order overruled a 2015 decision by predecessor Barack Obama to veto the pipeline.

“This is a good day, a good decision, for OPEC producers,” said Kenney, “If (Gulf refineries) don’t get (heavy crude) from Canada, they’ve gotta get it from places like Venezuela. And I don’t see how that’s in the interests of the United States.

“Our plea to the Biden administration is, please take a half step back here,” said Kenney, citing an Obama-era U.S. State Department report which concluded in 2011 that KXL would have a limited effect of the environment.

In 2014, the U.S. state department said KXL would produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than transporting oil to the Gulf of Mexico by rail.

Kenney has called for Canada to introduce economic sanctions against the U.S. if Biden will not reconsider his decision.

“I don’t know,” Kenney said, when asked by MacCallum if he thought Trudeau would go that far. “All I can do is represent the interest of Albertans.”