Oil and gas worker on Keystone XL Pipeline cancellation: ‘I feel pretty betrayed’
David and Kristina Dickerson discuss how the cancellation has affected their family on ‘Fox & Friends.’
Longtime oil and gas industry workers David and Kristina Dickerson are criticizing President Joe Biden’s executive order canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline. They say the order, which displaced them from the project, is threatening their economic stability.
"I feel pretty betrayed," David, who has worked in the oil and gas industry for 31 years, said Wednesday morning on "Fox & Friends."
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The president signed an executive order in January revoking the March 2019 permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline. The project was expected to create approximately 13,000 high-paying union jobs in the U.S. and Canada, according to an October 2020 report.
David told Steve Doocy the cancellation of the project has compounded the financial struggles his family had already been facing.
"We’ve had to actually dip into our retirement and our 401k, just trying to survive until something like this come up," David said. "We’ve been depending on this to happen and it just all of a sudden got ripped out from under us and we’re not going to be able to do it now."
Three of the couple’s four children also work in the oil and gas industry, Kristina said.
Kristina said the jobs created by the pipeline would have been an economic boost for individuals, communities and the government.
"It could put money in our pockets," Kristina said. "The communities that we work in on the pipelines, it would be a big boost to their economy. And the taxes from these lines would go back into the government pockets. So it would be a win-win."
David said the industry should evolve in order to address environmental concerns, but that doing so requires a more gradual approach.
"It’s a good thought, but it’s not a well-thought-out plan. They haven’t got it perfect," David said. "And we’re still dependent on fossil fuel. We’re going to use this crude oil no matter what."
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Kristina said no one has reached out to her or her husband about alternative jobs in the energy industry. Even if an alternative job is proposed, David said he would have difficulty transitioning this late in his career.
"This is about all I know how to do besides farming," David said.
"I’m fifty three years old, and it’s too late for me to start over again," he added later. "But it’s way too early for me to retire."
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