Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, a famous storyteller Mark Twain once said, ``Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,'' and proponents of the Keystone pipeline are following that advice very well. Supporters are painting an awfully rosy picture of Keystone's benefits while completely ignore the truth about the devastating damage it could cause. TransCanada, a Canadian company that wants to build Keystone XL, claims the pipeline is safe, but this is the same company that operates the existing Keystone pipeline which spilled a dozen times in the first year of operation. The worst spill released 21,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota, contaminating local soil and water. TransCanada claims that significant spills will be few and far between, but engineers at the University of Nebraska found that the company ignored data on spills and failed to factor in the more corrosive tar sands oil transported in Keystone XL. The engineers determined that instead of being safe, Keystone XL could have as many as 91 major oil spills over the life of the pipeline. This concerns me because Keystone XL will run through 2,000 miles of American farmland and over our country's largest water aquifer, the Ogallala. This aquifer provides drinking water for 2 million people and supplies water to more than a fourth of our Nation's irrigated farmland. Most Americans understand that past oil spills have severe environmental impacts, but any Keystone XL spill will be truly catastrophic.…”