Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Affirms Pipelines Are ‘Best Way to Go’, Just Not Keystone XL

Pete Buttigieg, President Joe Biden’s Transportation Secretary, insisted Thursday, while testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, the administration’s stance is that pipeline is the “best way to go,” just not the Keystone XL Pipeline, which the president revoked, killing thousands of jobs.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) pressed the secretary, saying, “As Secretary of Transportation, do you agree with Secretary of Energy [Jennifer Granholm] when she says the pipelines are the best way to transport fuel?”

He answered by saying, “it depends on the context” of the situation. He jokingly said, “Nobody’s proposing that we establish a pipeline that goes directly to every gas station or every community in the country.”

Scott reiterated the question to help the secretary understand the point he was trying to make:

Do you think that the important comments by the energy of secretary as a relates to transporting fuel through a pipeline is important enough for us to revisit the XL pipeline project or does that statement not include XL Pipeline?

Buttigieg responded, “In my view, it does not support any change to the administration’s any view on the XL pipeline, is certainly the case that over certain long distances in certain context.”

The secretary continued:

It makes sense to have pipelines. After all, one thing our department’s very proud of the work that we do through the pipeline and hazardous material safety administration to make sure the two-plus million miles of pipeline in the U.S. are safe.

Previously, Buttigieg admitted in a Washington Post live event that pipelines are the most efficient way to move petroleum products.

The event’s host pressed Buttigieg, “Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said earlier this week, pipelines are still the best way to move oil,” then asked if the secretary agrees with the statement.

Buttigieg replied, “certainly.” He then continued, especially “when you’re talking about the efficiency of moving petroleum products.” Then he later added, “That’s why we have pipelines.”

Scott is referring to Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s Secretary of Energy, who admitted during a press briefing on the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack that the best way to transport fuel across parts of the country is pipelines. The Biden administration, on its first day in office, revoked pipeline permits, including Keystone XL.

John Kerry, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, has also contradicted the Biden administration by admitting pipelines are a more efficient way of transporting fuel than train or truck.

Biden on the first day kept his campaign promise as he revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which in turn killed thousands of jobs:

Biden revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, as promised. In so doing, he killed some 11,000 direct jobs that the pipeline’s construction was to have created, and an estimated 60,000 indirect jobs in secondary, related industries.

Over 1,000 workers already on the job — mostly union workers — will be laid off as a result of the decision, even if it is litigated, as many expect it will be, in the courts.

Breitbart New’s Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak said, Biden “may have set a single-day record for the number of jobs killed by an American president.”