President Joe Biden revoked the permit that allowed the Keystone XL pipeline to remain active. Immediately after this, Biden stated that “We will begin a safe and orderly shut-down of construction,” which initiated unrest among the 11,000 workers that were employed and countless Americans–but what these people are failing to consider are the positive consequences that derived from the termination of the Keystone XL pipeline which was approved by President Donald Trump days after he took office. 

The permit request for the Keystone XL Pipeline was denied by former president, Barack Obama for 6 years before former president Donald Trump took office and approved the permit. Trump, a republican businessman, only saw the temporary positives in this approval–overlooking or simply ignoring the bad. He capitalized on the temporary benefits of the new jobs this pipeline provided, so a lot of people are confused at the difference in opinion on whether Keystone being shut down was a good thing. 

It was.

The Keystone XL Pipeline was responsible for 21 oil spills in the 9 years it was functioning, the biggest of the 21 being 400,000 gallons of oil spilled into a marshland in North Dakota, the other 20 spills not far from this amount, either. 12 percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are contributed to the drilling of this oil sand, a massive amount–even more greenhouse gas was produced converting this oil sand into petroleum and gas. 

Joe Biden re-joined the Paris Climate Accord, an agreement between many global powers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the very same agreement that Donald Trump left. Biden had no intention to create a job loss, but was simply looking at the bigger, better picture: the protection of our environment.

Oil is not a renewable resource and is estimated to be depleted by 2052 if used at the same rate. The job dependencies and oil monopolies that exist in America will lead to a massive economic collapse and job loss once oil runs out if steps toward transforming our country into being renewable energy dependent. It’s not just “Get a new job,” but “Get a job that doesn’t contribute to destroying our environment.”