A welder who was laid off due to the Keystone XL Pipeline cancellation is speaking out against President Joe Biden’s executive order terminating the project, calling it “a slap in the face” to those in his industry.
“It’s a pretty good gut punch, you know, kind of like a slap in the face,” Lynn Allen, who has been a welder for 34 years, told “Fox & Friends First” on Wednesday. “That’s all you work for, what you work towards all your life, and that’s your calling in life, and they’re telling you go get another job and try to go get green jobs.”
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The welder and father of three told anchors Jillian Mele and Todd Piro the effects of the project’s cancellation are being felt across his industry.
“The trickle-down effect of these pipelines and these pump stations due to this XL Keystone, it prospers so many people,” Allen said. “I mean, from the landowner all the way up to the welder, all the way up to the oil or gas company.”
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.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked during a Monday briefing how the administration plans to assist those who have been laid off or financially impacted by the cancellation.
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“Well, I’d certainly welcome you to present your data of all the thousands and thousands of people who won’t be getting a green job,” Psaki told Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy.
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For Allen, the loss of his job, and what this will mean for his family, weighs heavily on his mind. “I think about it every day,” he said.