Keystone XL Pipeline Cancellation Impacts More Than Jobs

Keystone XL pipeline facilities are seen in Hardisty, Alta., in a file photo. The now-cancelled pipeline would have carried oilsands crude from Hardisty to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

The cancellation of the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline has made a tough year more difficult for Carter Knox, a fourth-generation pipeliner who says that for people like him, it isn’t just about losing a job.

“It’s not really a question of whether or not that’s what we’re going to do in our lives. It’s more so this is the family trade. It’s in our blood,” Knox told The Epoch Times. He started welding and practicing at 6 years old. He got his union book a month after graduating from high school.