CEI Expert Responds to Trump’s Executive Orders on Pipelines
Statement from Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow William Yeatman on the news that President Trump signed executive orders to push forward the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines:
“President Trump’s support for the Dakota Access Pipeline is a welcome embrace of the rule of law. After a multi-year permitting process during which the company bent over backwards to satisfy regulators and engage with Native American communities, President Obama pulled the rug out from under the project developers on his way out the door of office. President Trump’s support for the Dakota Access Pipeline project is a sign that the current administration will respect both the substantive and procedural rights of regulated entities when they comply with federal law.”
“Today’s executive order should at long last put the Keystone pipeline matter to rest. Under the federal law’s criteria, the approval of this pipeline should have been a no-brainer. But former President Obama sat on the decision for seven years before finally rejecting the project during his second term when he no longer faced electoral accountability.
“Trump’s executive orders on these pipelines send a powerful message that his administration will not be swayed by environmentalist special interests to flout the rule of law or stymie the national interest.”
See more from CEI on these issues: