Janice Schakowsky: “I thank the gentleman for so much, including his voice and his leadership on this issue. There are three numbers that we…”

“I thank the gentleman for so much, including his voice and his leadership on this issue. There are three numbers that we all ought to know as we consider this bill approving the Keystone XL: 2 degrees Celsius--the amount the Earth can warm before climate change becomes truly catastrophic and irreversible; 565 gigatons--the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted before we reach irreversible global warming; 240 gigatons--the amount of carbon that would be emitted if the Alberta tar sands are fully developed, nearly half of all the carbon the world can burn. Keystone XL is the fastest and perhaps the only way to fully develop the Alberta tar sands. Keystone XL would move almost 1 million barrels per day of the dirtiest oil on Earth directly through the middle of our country. It would pass through some of our Nation's most important land and water sources, including the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies 30 percent of the United States' irrigation and drinking water to millions of Americans. And those who claim there is no serious risk of a spill have a very short memory. There were 12 spills in the first year of operation of the original Keystone pipeline, and there have been 30 spills in just over 4 years. So what I am saying today is that this is dangerous, and it is also not the best way to create jobs. Three times as many jobs are created for every dollar invested in renewable energies over the pipeline.…”