On the recordMay 22, 2013
The role of the State Department in the approval process is to determine whether the project serves the national interest. No one familiar with the facts would deny that it does, but the delays continue based on unfounded claims. The State Department's own draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on Keystone concluded that, in effect, there was no environmental reason not to approve the pipeline; yet still no action has been taken. But it appears that not everyone in the administration got the message to slow this project down. This month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would have no negative impact on a wide range of threatened species--from the gray wolf, to the whooping crane, to the prairie fringed orchid. While it found that the project was likely to affect the American burying beetle, ABB, it concluded that Keystone XL's conservation measures ``would likely result in a net increase in protected ABB habitat.'' So the one animal affected will actually be better off after the Keystone pipeline. It is time to stop this charade. All reasonable objections to the pipeline have been fully addressed. Please pass the legislation. {time} 1320
