Hoeven, McConnell, GOP Leadership Mark Sixth Anniversary of Inaction on Keystone XL Permit All 45 GOP Senators Call on President to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline
PoliticalNews.me - Sep 21,2014 - Hoeven, McConnell, GOP Leadership Mark Sixth Anniversary of Inaction on Keystone XL Permit
All 45 GOP Senators Call on President to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline
WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Ranking Energy Committee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) marked the sixth anniversary of TransCanada’s original application for a presidential permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
The senators also highlighted the occasion in a letter they sent to President Obama signed by all 45 Republican senators calling on him to approve the pipeline immediately:
“TransCanada first applied for a Presidential Permit on September 19, 2008. Since then, the U.S. Department of State has reviewed hundreds of thousands of comments and completed five environmental impact statements, all of which have found the pipeline will have no significant impact on the environment. In 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the State Department would make a decision on the pipeline by the end of that year. You yourself told our conference in March of last year that you would make a decision before the end of 2013. Mr. President, it is long past time to make a decision.
“The federal process is complete and has been complete for a long time. The states should have the primary role of determining the proper legal and regulatory procedures for siting the pipeline within their respective borders. The federal government should move forward with its determination.”
Meanwhile, the reasons to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project continue to mount. In addition to the jobs, economic activity, enhanced energy security and strengthened national security the Keystone XL pipeline project will create, due to congestion on the tracks, we can now add concerns about rail safety and long delays in agriculture shipment to the long list of reasons that the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest.
“After more than six years of study, five favorable environmental reviews, numerous polls showing the support of the American people, ISIS and the turmoil in the Middle East, it is way past time we take off the blinders and do what is in the best interest of the United States: approve the Keystone XL pipeline,” Hoeven said. “With our closest friend and ally Canada, we can produce more energy than we use, and achieve true North American energy independence. That’s why every Republican member of the U.S. Senate has joined in our letter calling for the president to approve the project.”
“It’s unacceptable that the administration has spent six years dragging its feet on construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, and I commend Senator Hoeven for bringing attention to that fact,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. “While some on the other side of the aisle might claim to be supportive of Keystone jobs, they’ve failed to stand up to the majority leader who has blocked this effort time and time again on behalf of the Obama administration.”
