Jane Kleeb, founder and director of Bold Alliance, and Bold Nebraska — the group that helped create an unlikely alliance of farmers, ranchers, Tribal Nations and citizens to stop the risky Keystone XL pipeline, issued the following quote in response to the statement issued by President Trump on Feb. 24 regarding the abandoned project:

“What a twisted way to put America First. The purpose of Keystone XL is to take Canadian tarsands and pipe it to a Saudi-owned refinery for export, including to China. Last we checked, Canada, Saudi Arabia and China are not America. The Canadian tarsands pumps through our land and water, giving us all the risk and none of the reward. In order to build the export pipeline, Keystone XL has to take land from farmers and ranchers by eminent domain for foreign private gain. By what bizarre logic does taking Nebraskans’ land for the benefit of a private Canadian company make America great? There’s good news, though. Trump “approved” Keystone XL on the first day of his first presidency last time around, and it was never built. It won’t be built this time, either,” said Bold Alliance founder Jane Kleeb.