Energy & Environment Legal Institute President Craig Richardson today issued the following statement in response to the executive orders issued by President Trump on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines:

Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) applauds President Trump for clearing the path for the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. It’s time to end the cozy relationship between the bureaucracy and environmental groups that has hurt American jobs and stifled economic growth. For far too long, career and political regulators in Washington, working hand-in-hand with extreme environmental groups and individuals, have stood in the way of these pipelines.

As evidence of the tight relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and environmental groups, E&E Legal obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act request that showed the Agency coordinating with Sierra Club and other pressure groups to block the Keystone XL pipeline.

While attempting to develop this strategy to stop the pipeline, one Sierra Club official acknowledged that higher energy prices are “simply not in the national interest,” a sentiment with which E&E Legal could not agree more. The pipelines must be built to increase energy supplies, which reduces energy costs and promotes economic growth. Through their attempts to block these pipelines, the Sierra Club and others and those in government they work with are destroying American jobs and putting American families on the path to energy poverty. Our nation deserves a better and brighter future.

President Trump has pledged to put American workers and American energy first. Through this executive order, he is following through on both those promises. The construction of these pipelines will offer the opportunity for jobs and economic growth, not only for the people building them and the surrounding communities but for all Americans. And, it’s time we put the interests of American workers and their families ahead of the special interests in Washington.