On the recordMay 22, 2013
I thank the gentleman. What a wonderful bill if you happen to be the Canadian oil company that reaps all the benefits, but it comes at the expense of the American economy and the global environment. We should reject this bill out of hand. This sweetheart deal approves the northern route of the Keystone XL pipeline and exempts it from the rigorous public analysis and scientific standards that American companies are held to, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, among others. Bear in mind that tar sands oil is already exempt from paying into the trust fund that covers oil spill cleanup. So with this bill, my colleagues are saying we should have no front- end environmental protection for this project and no backstop funding for when things go wrong--and things will go wrong. You just have to look at what happened at the Mayflower, Arkansas, spill a month ago. When that happens, American taxpayers are going to be on the hook for cleanup, and where is the offset for that? Meanwhile, TransCanada, the Canadian corporation proposing to build this pipeline, is on record before the Canadian energy board as saying that this project will increase the price of oil in the United States. So let's be very clear about what we are doing. This House is considering a bill to cut corners for a foreign corporation to transport dirty fuel and raise gas prices for Americans. Why would we spend our time on this?…
