Remember back when Obama said "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." and the right wingers pissed their pants when it didn't happen?
I wonder if those same people will bitch when they find out all those promises Drumpf made to build the Keystone Pipeline only out of US made steel doesn't happen?
Despite President Donald Trump's promises, it looks like the Keystone XL pipeline won't have to be made out of American steel after all.
A White House spokeswoman said Friday that the "buy American" rules in Trump's order clearing way for pipelines won't apply to the high-profile Keystone project, which will carry crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
"The way that the Executive Order is written is actually ... specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired," the spokeswoman said. "Since [Keystone] is already currently under construction ... it was hard to go back. Everything moving forward would be all under that executive order."
But Trump has vowed repeatedly that only steel from American steelmakers could be used on Keystone as well as other U.S. oil pipelines. He said so the day he signed the Executive Order, as well as in his address to Congress this week.
Trump also alluded to the requirement when he met with U.S. Steel (X) CEO Mario Longhi at the White House last week.
"You're going to be doing pipelines now, you know that?" he said to Longhi. "We put you heavy into the pipeline business."
And he has said the buy-American rules were something he insisted on at the last moment.
"This took place while I was getting ready to sign," he told the CPAC conference last week. "I said, 'Who makes the pipes for the pipeline?' Well, sir, it comes from all over the world, isn't that wonderful? I said, 'Nope, it comes from the United States or we're not building one.' American steel. If they want a pipeline in the United States, they're going to use pipe that's made in the United States, do we agree?"
But it's not clear that Trump's executive order could require the use of American-made steel on any pipeline.
The order calls for the Secretary of Commerce to draft "Buy American" rules for pipeline construction "to the maximum extent possible and to the extent permitted by law."
TransCanada said late Friday it has already has purchase agreements for the steel pipe it will use on Keystone. It said half of the pipe will come from the Arkansas plant of India-based steelmaker, Welspun. Another 10% will come from a Welspun plant in India, the rest will be imported from Canada and Italy. In addition, it has already purchased about $800 million worth of other goods from U.S. manufacturers.
"This project will support U.S. energy security, create thousands of well-paying U.S. jobs and provide substantial economic benefits," the company said in the statement.
But most of those jobs are short-term. Once the pipeline opens it would require only 35 full-time permanent jobs to run it, according to a government estimate that TransCanada does not dispute.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/03/news/co ... index.html
Trump won't require Keystone XL pipeline to use American steel after all
A few weeks ago, when President Trump signed a directive clearing several hurdles out of the way of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the White House touted a new requirement -- that the pipeline be made with American-produced steel.
Never mind.
The requirement to use domestic steel posed a potential conflict between the administration's populist agenda and it's pro-business stance. Apparently, business won.
Friday, a White House spokeswoman said Keystone would be exempt from the buy-America requirement because the pipeline was already partially underway.
"The way that executive order is written," said White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, "it’s specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired.
"Since this one is already currently under construction, the steel is already literally sitting there; it would be hard to go back," Sanders told reporters traveling with Trump on Air Force One en route to Florida.
That's not the way Trump described the requirement in his public statements. In a speech a week ago at the CPAC conference of conservative activists, the president said he had personally come up with the buy-America idea while signing off on the Keystone project.
"We have authorized the construction ... of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines," he said.
"This took place while I was getting ready to sign," he continued. "I said, 'who makes the pipes for the pipeline?'
"'Well, sir, it comes from all over the world, isn't that wonderful?'
"I said, 'Nope, it comes from the United States, or we're not building one.' American steel. If they want a pipeline in the United States, they're going to use pipe that's made in the United States."
About half the steel used to build the pipeline is to come from a plant in Arkansas, according to the pipeline builder, TransCanada. The rest will be imported.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washing ... story.html