Reprinted from www.desmogblog.com
At his February 16 press conference, President Donald Trump discussed his executive orders calling for U.S. federal agencies to grant TransCanada and Energy Transfer Partners the permits needed to build the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects.
Trump also cited a different executive order signed that same day, highlighting the "Buy American measures" which he said were "in place to require American steel for American pipelines." But like Keystone XL, as DeSmog previously reported, much of the steel for the Dakota Access project appears to have been manufactured in Canada by Evraz North America, a subsidiary of the Russian steel giant Evraz.
Evraz is owned in part by Roman Abramovich, a Russian multi-billionaire credited for bringing Russian President Vladimir Putin into office in the late 1990s. DeSmog's finding comes on the heels of Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigning for potentially having discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Russian diplomats before Trump took office, apparently without the knowledge of Trump or now-Vice President Mike Pence.
- Read more about Like Keystone XL, Much of Dakota Access Pipeline Steel Made by Russian Company Tied to Putin
In his statement on using American steel for U.S. pipelines made at the press conference, Trump said "nobody ever asked before I came along."
Trump repeated the steel production talking point at his first campaign rally for the 2020 presidential cycle, made less than a month into his presidency, on February 18 in Melbourne, Florda.
"And very importantly, as I was about to sign it, I said who makes the pipe? Who makes the pipe?"Simple question," he said. "The lawyers put this very complex document in front. I said, who makes the pipe? They said, sir, it can be made anywhere. I said not anymore. I put a little clause in the bottom. The pipe has to be made in the United States of America if we're going to have pineline."
Lisa Dillinger, who does media relations for Dakota Access, LLC, told DeSmog that 57 percent of the pipeline was manufactured in the U.S. by both Stupp Corporation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Welspun in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The remaining pipe, Dillinger said, was manufactured in Canada, though she did not comment on which Canadian company manufactured the steel.
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