Trump Signs Memoranda Reviving Keystone XL And Dakota Access Pipelines, Resolves Long-Standing Concern That Two Projects Halted After Years Of Public Process Were Going To Remain Halted

WASHINGTON. President Donald J. Trump signed a pair of executive memoranda Tuesday clearing the path for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, addressing what administration officials described as a long-standing concern that two infrastructure projects previously rejected following years of environmental review and indigenous-led protest were going to remain rejected.

The signings, conducted four days into Mr. Trump's first term and before he had nominated an Interior Secretary, an Energy Secretary, or an Environmental Protection Agency administrator, were said to reflect the administration's commitment to moving forward without the procedural delays that had previously included consulting the federal agencies responsible for the underlying decisions. Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the pipelines would create "a lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs, great construction jobs," a figure exceeding by roughly 26,000 the count of permanent positions the State Department had estimated for the Keystone project two years earlier.

The Dakota Access pipeline, whose final easement under Lake Oahe had been halted in December 2016 following months of protest by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the gathering of thousands of demonstrators at the Sacred Stone Camp, was said by White House officials to require expedited completion in order to deliver Bakken crude oil to refineries in Illinois, a routing the Standing Rock Tribe had originally requested be moved away from its drinking-water source, and which had subsequently been rerouted back toward its drinking-water source.

Mr. Trump, who had previously held a financial interest in Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline's parent company, and who had received a $100,000 campaign contribution from the company's chief executive Kelcy Warren, told reporters that he no longer held that interest. The administration declined to specify when the divestment had occurred, citing the President's continued status as the sole legal authority on what his financial holdings consisted of.

Asked whether the new memoranda would require pipelines to use American-made steel, as Mr. Trump had repeatedly demanded during the signing ceremony, an administration spokesperson clarified the following week that the American-steel requirement would not apply to Keystone XL because the steel had already been purchased, nor to Dakota Access because the steel had already been purchased, nor to existing pipelines because they were already built, nor to any pipeline currently in the permitting process because it was currently in the permitting process.

At press time, Mr. Trump was preparing to sign additional executive orders, including one directing the EPA to remove climate change from its website, and one establishing that the agency's website was now optional.