On January 24, 2017, President Trump signed Presidential Memorandum 2017-02035 directing the Secretary of State to reconsider and approve the Keystone XL Pipeline permit. This action reversed the Obama administration's 2015 denial of the cross-border crude oil pipeline, which was designed to transport oil from Canadian tar sands to refineries in Nebraska and Texas. The memorandum used the president's authority over cross-border infrastructure permits to overturn an earlier policy determination, reinstating a project that had faced environmental opposition for nearly a decade.

The Keystone XL Pipeline directly affects landowners in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Texas whose property would be crossed by the 1,179-mile pipeline, as well as communities dependent on groundwater and surface water resources along its route. Construction began in 2018, and the pipeline entered limited operation in 2020, creating both temporary construction jobs and permanent operational employment, while simultaneously increasing the infrastructure for tar sands oil extraction and distribution. Environmental groups and indigenous tribes raised persistent concerns about pipeline rupture risks, greenhouse gas emissions from increased tar sands development, and water contamination threats to the Ogallala Aquifer and other water sources.

This pipeline approval exemplifies a broader Trump administration pattern of prioritizing fossil fuel extraction over environmental protection. The Keystone decision presaged subsequent actions including the Defense Production Act invocation for oil and coal acceleration, the Minnesota wilderness mining opening, and payments to companies abandoning offshore wind projects. These interconnected policies systematically dismantle environmental safeguards while channeling resources toward extractive industries. The timing of regulatory rescissions by EPA leadership under Lee Zeldin compounds the pipeline's environmental impact by reducing oversight capacity for potential contamination and emissions monitoring.

The pipeline operated until June 2023, when TC Energy announced its cancellation following political pressure and legal challenges. However, the underlying permitting authority Trump established remained in place, demonstrating how administrative reversals can persist even when individual projects face obstacles. The memorandum's framework continues to inform infrastructure permitting decisions affecting energy development across multiple administrations.