Majority of Americans Support Resuming Work on Keystone XL Pipeline: Poll

A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline in Gascoyne, N.D., on Jan. 25, 2017. Terray Sylvester/Reuters

A majority of Americans back resuming work on a major pipeline that President Joe Biden blocked soon after taking office, according to a new poll.

Some 71 percent of respondents to the survey said they “favor very much” or “favor somewhat” Biden signing an executive order to restart construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The poll was conducted by Maru Public Opinion for a Canadian news outlet.

If built, the pipeline would transport oil from Canada through the middle portion of the United States down to Texas.

Biden on his first day in office signed an order revoking authorization for the pipeline. President Donald Trump had allowed the project to move forward after President Barack Obama blocked it.

Biden’s order referred to a 2015 assessment by the Obama administration that determined the pipeline “would not serve the U.S. national interest” because the pipeline would have a “limited” impact on energy security and the U.S. economy and get in the way of developing alternative energy sources such as solar.

“The analysis further concluded that approval of the proposed pipeline would undermine U.S. climate leadership by undercutting the credibility and influence of the United States in urging other countries to take ambitious climate action,” Biden said at the time.

The move drew widespread outcry, with Alberta’s premier calling it disrespectful and one of many fired workers saying the action would “hurt a lot of people, a lot of families.”

Surveys carried out by the Pew Research Center found support for Keystone declined from a majority of Americans to a minority between 2014 and 2017, and about half of Americans, including a supermajority of Democrats, said in 2021 that canceling the project was the correct move.

But with gas prices spiking amid the Russia-Ukraine war, and Biden’s ban on Russian petroleum imports, more Americans appear receptive to kickstarting the project, which would take months to complete but would make an impact in the future.

The ban was referenced in the question for the poll, which was conducted on March 10 among 1,508 Americans and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.

“It would appear that the public, given the current circumstance, has decided that this is a bipartisan solution to what is now an unprecedented circumstance,” John Wright, Maru Public Opinion’s executive vice-president, told PostMedia, which commissioned the poll.

Keystone’s developer said after the war started that it would not work on the project even if it were restarted.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters recently that there no plans to let construction resume, adding, “it would not address any of the problems we’re having currently.”

Jason Kenney, Alberta’s premier, said around the same time that the Canadian government would be willing to help ensure the project is completed if agreements are hammered out.

The U.S. House of Representatives, meanwhile, rejected a bill that would approve the pipeline, with Democrats largely opposed and Republicans largely in favor.