BILLINGS, Mont. — The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline said Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the contentious project after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office.

During his campaign, Biden pledged to shelve the project, first proposed 12 years ago. He cited the same environmental concerns that led his former boss, then-President Barack Obama, to deny the Keystone XL a permit to cross into the U.S. in 2015.

Environmental groups were hoping Biden would fulfill his promise to dump the $8 billion project, which would have moved up to 830,000 barrels of crude daily. But the Canadian government, labor unions and oil industry groups revved up a last-ditch effort earlier this year to save the Keystone XL.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts criticized the Biden administration for depriving the state of jobs and tax revenue that the pipeline would have created. “This is yet another example of the Biden-Harris Administration putting the priorities of radical environmental activists above our national interest,” Ricketts said in a statement Wednesday. “Without Keystone XL, the United States will not only be more dependent on overseas sources of oil, but our state will not enjoy the benefit of the jobs and property tax revenue the project would have brought.”

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