Did Trump Already Renege On U.S. Steel Promise? - Granite Grok

Did Trump Already Renege On U.S. Steel Promise?

PipelineThe Keystone XL Pipeline has received a waiver from the Trump Administration allowing it to proceed without requiring the use of U.S. Steel.

Politico reported late Thursday night that a White House spokeswoman explained that the project, which has been in the works for the past decade, does not count as a “new” or “retrofitted” pipeline, and therefore is not subject to Mr. Trump’s made-in-America requirement.

Is something untoward afoot? Let’s go to the original January 24th order for clarification.

The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with all relevant executive departments and agencies, shall develop a plan under which all new pipelines, as well as retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipelines, inside the borders of the United States, including portions of pipelines, use materials and equipment produced in the United States, to the maximum extent possible and to the extent permitted by law.

I suppose we could niggle about definitions but can we agree that this project is not new? The XL project predates Obama’s coronation. That was so 9 years ago.

While it is new pipeline the Keystone XL project (KXL) will be connecting to existing infrastructure. Does that make it an expansion? I think it does but it is still not new. We could agree to disagree but it is not exactly a “hill to die on” if you are out to prove Trump’s order was disingenuous.

There are plenty of other hills for that.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lists them all here along with another four pending projects added in  2017. Eighteen pipeline projects are pending from 2016, thirty-two from 2015, three from 2014 and two from 2013. That’s fifty-nine pipeline projects that might fit the executive order definition of an expansion, new pipeline, or a retrofit of an existing line for the purpose of requiring the use of American steel.

Or are they, like KXL, not new for all the same reasons and only those issued in 2017 meet the executive order criteria?

I’m good with that.

While Mr. Trump’s effort to resuscitate the American steel industry is admirable I’m not a fan of government interference of this sort. I don’t think it quality foreign steel should be a deal breaker for a pipeline to move forward.

These projects will bring long-term benefits to Americans, not just in jobs but in the form of cheaper home heating and electricity. That frees up a lot of dollars annually for savings, investment or other commercial activity by regular Americans that can benefit every other sector of the economy.

The refining plants will generate hundreds of millions annually in income and taxes as they process additional Canadian oil and then move the refined products around the country or the globe. This will employ thousands of Americans or improve their pay and benefits for many years to come.

Yes, the order will increase jobs in American steel. Just make sure it also creates and encourages real competition in that industry. Private monopolies have many of the same failings as government monopolies. Lacking competition they have no incentive to innovate or operate efficiently. Higher prices from a small list of protected suppliers will inevitably remove dollars from pockets that could have been spent someplace else. And as we saw during the Obama years, both Congress and the Executive branch redirected not just billions in grants and loans to political friends and family but in many cases, legislative support at every level of government that would required providers to use the generating capacity created even though it was less efficient and more expensive.

The burden of those government manufactured higher prices make everything cost more and that hurts middle and lower class families the hardest. While we’re rethinking energy let’s not revisit that sort of foolishness.

Put another way, if foreign steel is just as good and that much cheaper, and gets us to the other benefits more quickly use it while you ensure that the reason why US producers can’t compete isn’t because the government has bogged them down with burdensome bureaucratic barriers. Get out of their way and let them earn the opportunity. Don’t just fix the game to their advantage.

We’ll be watching.

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