On the recordJuly 26, 2011
I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1938. We are here debating whether to expedite the approval of a pipeline that will import the dirtiest crude oil on the planet into the United States of America by melting the oil out of the tar in Canada, which creates more greenhouse gases than any other production method for crude oil on the planet. {time} 1510 It also destroys the boreal forest. It contaminates millions of gallons of water each day. That is a very high environmental price to pay for oil from tar in Canada that may not lower prices for Americans and may never be sold to Americans. But we will build the pipeline for them through our land to accomplish this goal. The majority has repeatedly claimed that expediting the approval of this pipeline will lower gas prices at the pump for the American public. But what factual evidence should we rely upon in order to substantiate this claim? Well, we can't rely upon TransCanada, the very company that wants to build the pipeline through our country, because it has concluded that after the pipeline is constructed that gas prices would rise in the Midwest of our country as a result of the Keystone XL pipeline. We are also told that building this pipeline will enable us to reduce our dependence on imported oil from countries who don't like us very much. Instead, we will be able to rely upon dependable Canada, our friends, the Canadians.…
