Trump advances two energy infrastructure projects: Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines… can he balance infrastructure with environmental protection, too?

On the official “Day 2” of the new administration, President Donald J. Trump continues to dismantle the legacy of his predecessor using all executive means at his disposal, fulfilling his promise to “Make America Great Again.”

This morning, the president signed documents that will advance the eventual approval and construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects, both of which were stalled by President Barack Obama over the false notion of “climate change/global warming.” More on that in a moment.

As reported by Bloomberg, “We are going to renegotiate some of the terms, and if they like, we’ll see if we can get that pipeline built,” Trump said, who then added: “If we’re going to build pipelines in the United States, the pipes should be made in the United States.”

As further noted by Zero Hedge, Trump said his order streamlines the very cumbersome manufacturing regulations.” He then called the regulatory process a “tangled up mess.” (RELATED: Watch Trump dismantle the Administrative State by checking in at BigGovernment.news)

To reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the terms and conditions regarding the pipelines will be renegotiated by the United States, which has reserved the right to do so.

The move is making a number of factions in the U.S. happy, including labor unions, which will have a role in building prospective pipelines, and Americans who are tired of sending their sons and daughters to fight in the volatile Middle East, where the U.S. currently gets the lion’s share of its oil.

As Bloomberg noted further:

The moves, taken on Trump’s fourth full day in office, are a major departure from the Obama administration, which rejected the Keystone proposal in 2015 and has kept Dakota Access blocked since September. Environmentalists, concerned about climate change and damage to waters, land and Native-American cultural sites, now face an executive branch that’s less sympathetic to their efforts. For the oil industry, it heralds more freedom to expand infrastructure and ease transportation bottlenecks.

Natural News founder and editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, understands there are still legitimate concerns about the safety of the environment, especially land and resources belonging to Native American tribes whose resources could be adversely affected by any subsequent pipeline leak or spill.

“I support energy independence but I’m also a huge supporter of environmental protection,” Adams said. “That’s why I have announced a donation of water quality lab testing to all Native American communities that may be affected by these two pipeline projects.” (See related articles on NaturalNews.com for details of his announcement.)

For his part, Trump has also not abandoned environmental concerns. In announcing plans earlier this week to cut more than three-quarters of existing federal regulations, the president said he and his administration would focus on the redundant, economy-killing portions of federal regulations but would ensure that protections for land, water, and air remained firm and in place. (RELATED: What’s the latest in global warming science? Find out at ClimateScience.news)

The executive actions Trump signed Tuesday include a directive the president noted would speed up environmental reviews and approvals for “high-priority infrastructure projects.”

“We intend to fix our country, our bridges, our roadways,” he said. “We can’t be in an environmental process for 15 years if a bridge is going to be falling down or if a highway is crumbling.”

As for the Obama administration’s objections, the former president couched the bulk of his rejection of both projects in an environmental cloak, but that was never true.

The American Thinker notes that Obama’s decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline was because he ostensibly agreed with his State Department that the project “would not serve the national interests of the United States.” How improving domestic oil production versus sending American troops overseas to fight in countries rich in oil is not in ‘our best interests’ makes sense when you understand Obama’s true motivations: Billionaire Warren Buffett, whom Obama has bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and famous Democratic donor, owns most of the oil-carrying trains.

Investors Business Daily noted in 2011:

As oil production ramps up in the Bakken fields of North Dakota, plans to use the pipeline to transport it have been dashed.

As a result, North Dakota’s booming oil producers will have to rely even more on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad, which Buffett just bought, to ship it to refineries.

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe in a deal valuing the railroad at $34 billion. Berkshire Hathaway already owns about 22% of Burlington Northern, and will pay $100 a share in cash and stock for the rest of the company.

Unlike Trump and Adams, whose environmental concerns are real, Obama’s concerns are more aligned with greenwashing by Corporate America and his corporatist pals.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

ZeroHedge.com

Bloomberg.com

Investors.com