A former Keystone XL Pipeline welder recently blasted Democrat President Joe Biden’s intent to cut gas and energy prices before the midterm elections.
“I don’t know how he gets away with keep saying that he doesn’t have anything to do with [high gas prices] when they’ve got everything to do with it,” Neal Crabtree said during an interview this week with Fox Business.
Crabtree previously worked on the Keystone XL project and was among hundreds of others laid off after the president took office.
Biden canceled the federal permit for the pipeline that would have brought vast amounts of oil on a daily basis from Canada down to the state of Texas. The move was meant to prioritize clean energy over fossil fuels.
Workers in his industry saw their hours cut significantly while some lost health insurance and are not receiving retirement benefits. Others had to look for another career altogether, according to Crabtree.
“When you’re 40, or 45 years old, starting over ain’t the easiest thing to do. You spent all your time building your skill set and then all of a sudden you’re making a minimum wage. It can change your life,” he noted.
This Nov. 3, 2015 file photo shows the Keystone Steele City pumping station, into which the planned Keystone XL pipeline is to connect, in Steele City, NE. (Nati Harnik, File/AP)
Americans lean toward favoring domestic energy production, and a poll from March showed 71 percent “favor very much” or “favor somewhat” restoring the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Republican officials, this week, blasted Biden’s plans to tap into U.S. oil reserves again as the midterm elections approach in a move to curb high gas prices, Breitbart News reported.
Biden plans to release another 15 million barrels of oil from the federal government’s strategic reserves to cut gas prices. Right now, the reserves are currently at their lowest since 1984, the outlet said.
However, it was not just about canceling pipelines but “It’s behind-the-scenes stuff — pressuring banks and lenders not to finance fossil fuel projects. But the main problem that our industry is having is they’ve got such a stranglehold on the permit process,” Crabtree explained.
In April, Attorneys General in 16 states urged Biden to restart the Keystone XL pipeline while supplies are threatened due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Breitbart News noted that under former President Donald Trump’s leadership, the country enjoyed energy independence.
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