Covid-19 Oils the Wheels?

Bill McKibben has recounted a sorry tale, describing how the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has been used to facilitate a rush by oil companies and banks to force the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico in the USA (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/05/climate-crisis-villains-oil-industry-big-banks-pipelines). There is no doubt that extracting oil from the tar sands will be a very dirty process, making any attempt to limit climate change almost impossible (and done,in spite of the fact that there is presently a world glut of oil). Professor McKibben has revealed that the oil companies and their financial and political backers have rushed pipeline workers on to the project in spite of the pandemic-related lockdown (he notes that much of the work is carried out near the lands of indigenous Americans, who appear prone to catching the virus). He states that, in some locations en route, the law has been changed to make even talking about blocking the construction an illegal act. All this occurs at the same time that the 'small army' of volunteers, who had been prepared to go to jail to oppose the pipeline, apparently feel that they have to stand-down or else risk introducing the virus to crowded correctional institutions. It all sounds very opportunistic and more than a little cynical.