Democracy Dies in Darkness

Keystone XL pipeline developer pulls plug on controversial project

The move comes just months after President Biden revoked a Trump-era approval

June 9, 2021 at 9:54 p.m. EDT
The firm behind the $9 billion oil pipeline officially scrapped the project on June 9, more than a decade after political wrangling over its fate began. (Video: Reuters)

The firm behind the Keystone XL pipeline officially scrapped the project on Wednesday, months after President Biden revoked a cross-border permit for the controversial pipeline and more than a decade after political wrangling over its fate began.

The pipeline, which would have stretched from Alberta’s boreal forests to the refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, became the center of a broader controversy over climate change, pipeline safety, eminent domain and jobs. Those same concerns have spawned similar battles to stop pipelines in states including Montana, Minnesota and Virginia, part of an effort to keep fossil fuels in the ground.