US president signs orders on controversial pipelines

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - President Donald Trump signed executive orders allowing the completion of the controversial North Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines on Tuesday.

During his election campaign, Trump promised to “unleash” the U.S.’s energy potential and indicated he backed the projects.

The $8 billion, 1,900-kilometer (1,180-mile) Keystone XL is intended to carry crude from Canadian tar sands to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast project but was vetoed by former President Barack Obama’s three times.

The North Dakota Access pipeline, worth $3.7 billion, would stretch from the oil-rich Bakken formation in North Dakota to carry 470,000 barrels of crude through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois.

The North Dakota pipeline is opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which sued the government in July claiming the pipeline threatened water resources and sacred sites. Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a request by the company building the pipeline to tunnel under the Missouri River.

Trump also signed another executive order Tuesday that would expedite the regulatory process to overcome environmental hurdles.