It turns out the day I would get to see Donald Trump was a very big day indeed. May 26, Trump clinched the necessary number of delegates to secure his place as the Republican nominee for president of the United States. On that day he travelled to Bismarck, N.D. to speak on the closing day of the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in his first major policy speech on energy.
I have attended this conference every year for six years, gathering enough stories to run over several editions each time.
The media attending the conference were shepherded through our own U.S. Secret Service security screening. Our bags were thoroughly searched, we were wanded with metal detectors and the large, imposing sniffer dog was a fitting set piece along with the large presence of secret service and police, armoured and armed, uniformed and plain clothes.
He landed in Bismarck a few minutes after the time he was supposed to be on stage. Around 7,700 people, one-third from the conference, the remainder outsiders, waited up to three hours to go through the security screening. They would wait a little longer.
The media room, with its podium and lights, was electric with anticipation. As he was running late, many of us expected Trump would maybe make a short statement or take questions for five minutes before taking the stage. Instead, he took nearly 40 minutes of questions.
Prior to addressing the press, numerous oil executives, including Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm, took their place behind the podium. Despite the fact he came to North Dakota to talk energy, nearly 20 minutes into this unexpectedly long media availability, no one had asked about oil. This is when, standing at the far edge of room with three secret service agents within arm’s reach, I got a chance to ask my questions about the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline project. True to form, he wants a piece for the United States. He would also look at TransCanada’s proposed Upland Pipeline. Not familiar with the project, he said his bias would be to approve it as well.
The Upland Pipeline would be an integral part of the proposed Energy East Pipeline, allowing North Dakota to ship up to 300,000 barrels per day from Williston, N.D., to Moosomin where it would join up with the proposed Cromer Lateral (taking Saskatchewan oil) and feed into the 1.1 million barrel per day Energy East mainline.
Here is the exchange, with the video found at http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000520986 :
Pipeline News: Sir, I think I’m the only Canadian press here. The Keystone XL project caused great disruption to Canada-U.S. relations. Would you approve the project? Would you invite TransCanada to build it?
Donald Trump: Yes I would. Totally. It should be approved.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t get a better deal. See, Obama would approve it or not approve it. Hillary is probably not going to approve it, from what I understand. I look at it differently. I would absolutely approve it, 100 per cent, but I want a better deal. Because listen, here’s the difference between Harold Hamm and myself, and you, or let’s say, Obama, who doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. Here’s the difference. I’m going to say, “Folk’s, we’re going to let you build a pipeline. But give us a piece.”
We’re going to have to use eminent domain. You know, remember when all the conservatives went, “Eminent domain! Eminent domain!”
Well, their favourite project is the Keystone Pipeline. If you read the Keystone documents, a big section is devoted to eminent domain. Because without eminent domain, that pipeline wouldn’t go 10 feet. You understand that.
I want the Keystone Pipeline, but the people of the United States should be given a piece, a significant piece, of the profits. Right now Obama would have said, “Yes” or “No,” and most politicians would say, “Yes, we’ll approve it,” or “No, we won’t.”
I’m saying, “Yes, absolutely, we’ll approve it. But I want a piece of the profits because we’re making it happen through eminent domain and other things. I want a piece of the profits for the United States. That’s how we’re going to make our country rich again, just one way out of thousands, but that’s how we’re going to make our country rich again and how we’re going to make America great again. You understand what I’m saying?
Pipeline News: TransCanada would like to build a pipeline from Williston that Mr. Hamm could actually ship his oil through, into Saskatchewan …
Trump: This is a different pipeline?
Pipeline News: It’s called the Upland Pipeline, 300,000 barrels a day, TransCanada …
Trump: Do you like the idea?
Pipeline News: It’s great, it’s basically …
Trump: No, no. Do you like the idea? As a reporter? You’re not supposed to say, but that’s OK.
(Laughter in room)
Pipeline News: I’m the only person in Saskatchewan who writes on energy. I love the idea.
Trump: We would look at it. Look, I’m going to look at anything. I’m going to look at anything. A lot of times, pipelines are so much better. Instead of going on trains and having all the problems caused by that, it’s underground. Environmentally, they’re better in many cases. But we’re going to take a look at it.
Pipeline News: The difference is this pipeline would allow Mr. Hamm to export oil through Canada, into Canada, and also overseas through a Canadian port.
Trump: OK, well I’m not aware of that one, but we will certainly take a look at it. I will tell you my basic bias would be to approve. I want to approve for jobs, and the concept of pipelines is OK, if they’re going from the right place to the right place, OK?
***
I would hope someone was going to ask the Keystone XL question, but no one had. Canada has wanted to hear a “Yes” to that question for seven years, having heard only “Wait, wait, wait, wait, maybe, wait, wait, no!” from President Obama.
Someone had to ask the question. He had a prepared answer, and it was already in his speech to be given an hour later.
That I, a Canadian, was able to ask the most important foreign policy question our country has had for seven years was huge. To get a “Yes” from the man who could very likely be the next president of the United States was the pinnacle of 24 years of journalism for me. The story was picked up by almost every major media outlet in the United States and Canada.
Maybe a year from now, the dozers, excavators and sidebooms will get to work.
— Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.
