Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined fifteen other state AGs in sending a letter to President Joe Biden calling for executive action to reauthorize the Keystone XL pipeline. Biden revoked a key permit on his first day in office, effectively ending the construction of the pipeline that would have carried crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas’ Gulf Coast refineries.

The pipeline’s construction began in 2008, but former President Barack Obama paused the project. After taking office in 2016, former President Donald Trump reauthorized the controversial pipeline. The plan called for two sections: one already completed in the Midwestern United States and a longer one running from Canada.

“Following your revocation of President Donald Trump’s 2019 permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on the first day of your administration, we have repeatedly asked you to reconsider this misguided (and we continue to believe unlawful) decision,” the letter reads. “We warned you then if your decision was not reversed, Americans would ‘suffer serious detrimental consequences,’ consumers would pay higher prices, and our allies would become further dependent on Russian and Middle Eastern oil.”

The letter claims that the Biden administration is seeking ways to import more crude oil from Canada to offset record gas and oil prices in the United States. It states the U.S. requested OPEC+ countries, which include Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, to increase production to push prices down.

“The oil you now want to import from Canada is the same oil that would have flowed through the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported nearly a million barrels per day — not only from Canada but from the Bakken oilfields in Montana and North Dakota — to American refineries. The hypocrisy would be stunning if it weren’t so insulting to American energy workers and those in rural communities who benefited from the pipeline’s many economic opportunities,” the letter states.

Beyond the loss of the necessary permit, TC Energy, the company building the Keystone XL pipeline on the Canadian side, ended the project last year after the Biden administration revoked the permits. TC Energy is seeking $15 billion in damages from the U.S. Government.

“We value the strong relationships we’ve built through the development of this project and the experience we’ve gained,” TC Energy said in a July 2021 press release announcing the end of the project.

“We remain grateful to the many organizations that supported the project and would have shared in its benefits, including our partners, the Government of Alberta and Natural Law Energy, our customers, pipeline building trade unions, local communities, Indigenous groups, elected officials, landowners, the Government of Canada, contractors and suppliers, industry associations, and our employees.”

For years, environmental groups argued that the type of crude oil that the pipeline was intended to transport presented a significant threat to the environment and would increase pollution.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) was one of the most prominent environmental groups lobbying Washington during the Obama administration and continues to maintain information about the risks of the pipeline. For example, the group argues that tar sands crude, the type of crude the pipeline would have carried, is more corrosive than regular crude, which could lead to numerous leaks.

The group states that the completed portions of Keystone XL pipeline have leaked more than a dozen times since 2010, including significant spills in North Dakota and Michigan. In addition to the corrosive properties of the crude, the long construction delays have also caused damage to the segments of pipe that would be installed, further increasing the risk of failure.

“A study published in early 2020, co-authored by TC Energy’s own scientists, found that the anti-corrosion coating on the project’s pipes was damaged from being stored outside and exposed to the elements for the last decade,” said NRDC senior attorney Jaclyn Prange.

Despite the risks to the environment, Keystone XL pipeline has become a rallying point, especially as the conflict in Ukraine continues.

Signing the letter to the Biden administration with Paxton were the attorneys general for the states of Oklahoma, Montana, Alaska, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Arizona, Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Utah, Wyoming, and West Virginia.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has illustrated the reality that countries worldwide are intrinsically tied to Russian oil supplies. The letter states that the need for the Keystone XL pipeline is greater now than ever to offset the rising costs of fuel in the U.S.

“Recent events have made it strikingly obvious that more domestic energy development is needed to prevent future economic hardship for Americans,” the letter to the Biden administration says. “Your decisions, however, have stripped Americans of the manifold benefits the Keystone XL pipeline would deliver — jobs, tax revenue, and new and sustained economic opportunities. There is no end in sight to the painfully high energy costs or inflation that Americans are now enduring because of your failed policies.”

“It is never too late to admit your mistakes,” the letter concludes.