Source: AFP
President Donald Trump on Tuesday revived plans for two controversial pipelines whose construction had been ruled out by the Obama administration in the face of strong pressure from environmental groups.
By signing two decrees, Trump refloated the extensive Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude from Canada to refineries in the United States, and another that would cross Indian territory in North Dakota.
While signing one of the decrees, Trump said the Keystone XL pipeline was "in dispute" and the contracts will be renegotiated.
According to Trump, the project represents "many jobs. There will be 28,000 jobs. Excellent construction jobs ".
When signing the decree on the Dakota pipeline, the president also said he will be subject to renegotiation.
The Keystone XL project had been discarded by the previous president, Barack Obama, before the enormous pressure exerted by the community related to environmental protection.
The Canadian government, meanwhile, was quietly supportive of the idea, although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself decided to get rid of the idea.
Meanwhile, the North Dakota pipeline had become the center of a spectacular internal polemic in the United States.
Indigenous groups and support groups organized a fierce resistance to the project, with intense mobilization that included movie celebrities.
Thousands of people came to camp in the frozen North Dakota open field in the dead of winter to block the project.
The Sioux tribe feared that the construction of the pipeline in their territory promotes water pollution and the destruction of areas they consider sacred.
North Dakota police tried to evict the protesters and there were violent clashes that in turn generated a wave of outrage at the national level.
Some 2,000 American veterans joined the resistance groups at the demonstrations, until the Obama administration also decided to bury the idea.