President Trump signed executive orders this morning intended to restart construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline and Keystone XL Pipeline projects, the Associated Press reports. Both of these pipelines stalled under the Obama administration after ongoing protests.
The text of today’s executive order has not yet been released on the White House website or in the Federal Register. The executive orders that Trump signed on Friday did not appear in the Federal Register until today.
According to the AP, “Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office that the moves on the pipelines will be subject to the terms and conditions being renegotiated by the U.S.” It’s unclear what that means, and the Trump administration could not immediately be reached for comment. Trump also advocated for accelerating the environmental review process and for manufacturing the pipes for the pipelines in the US.
Both pipeline projects were met with protests, in large part because of concerns about potential spills. Pipeline leaks are not infrequent, often caused when construction workers hit the pipes, natural disasters strike them, or even just corrosion and time, according to a report by ProPublica. The federal agency that oversees most of these pipelines, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, inspects only 7 percent of natural gas lines and 44 percent of “hazardous liquid lines” regularly, according to ProPublica’s 2012 report.