Scott Moe supports resurrection of Keystone XL, says pipeline permits in Sask. will now be considered pre-approved

WATCH: Premier Scott Moe and the Sask. NDP responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on building the Keystone XL Pipeline.

While in Washington, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said that he supports calls for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline as long as it’s met with no U.S. tariffs.

Moe posted his support for the project on social media Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump called for construction of the pipeline, despite saying the United States does not need oil from Canada.

Moe is in Washington for the second time this month lobbying against 25 per cent tariffs that Trump said on Tuesday are still going to come into affect on March 4, along with additional tariffs on steel and aluminum March 12.

• Trump says U.S. ‘on time’ with tariffs against Canada, other countries
• Provinces have roughly $100B at hand for tariff relief, Desjardins estimates

“The path to continental energy dominance is to increase non-tariff North American trade. This includes the construction of new pipelines like Keystone XL,” Moe said in a social media post on Tuesday.

This was met with skepticism from the Saskatchewan NDP opposition.

“How we can talk about an infrastructure product right now when the product that’s going to be moving through it has the threat of a 35 per cent tariff on it doesn’t make sense,” NDP MLA Sally Housser said.

She added that the NDP called for a pipeline to eastern Canada last week and not one that would transport oil into the United States.

“We need to be diversifying our markets,” Housser said.

Pre-approval of pipeline permits

On Wednesday Moe again took to social media to show his support for Keystone XL and all potential future pipeline projects.

Moe said effective immediately all pipeline permits that go east-west or south in Saskatchewan would be considered pre-approved.

“We encourage all provinces and the federal government to do the same,” Moe’s post reads.

The Keystone XL pipeline project that would have run 1,900 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta. To the major American crude storage hub in Cushing, Okla and then refineries on the Gulf Coast was first proposed during the Obama administration, which rejected it due to environmental concerns.

• Keystone XL redux? Trump says he wants defunct oil pipeline back from the dead

Trump revived the project during his first term but it was again turfed by President Joe Biden when he revoked the pipeline’s permit on his first day in office in 2021.

With files from Wayne Mantyka and The Canadian Press.