Political Quotes

“First, I thank Senator Boxer for her extraordinary effort on this issue. Let me get this straight. This debate is about giving competitive advantage for the shipping of the dirtiest oil located in Canada through the United States for export. It is through the United States-- not through Canada. The environmental risks are in America, and it circumvents our regulatory review process and attempts to deny property owners the right to challenge the route in court. The Keystone Pipeline is a shortcut to an existing pipeline network to export some of the world's dirtiest crude oil from Canada to other countries. The current pipeline network could handle this, but the operators want a competitive advantage for the dirtiest oil by shortcutting the pipeline that currently exists. There is very little benefit to the United States. Certainly, as has been pointed out, the oil is not destined for the United States. There are few permanent jobs. It poses significant environmental risks. It eliminates appropriate executive review, tries to interfere with judicial review, and should be rejected by this body. First, let me talk about tar sands--exporting tar sand crude from Alberta, Canada, to other countries, through the United States rather than through Canada. It could go through Canada, 700 miles west to the British Columbia coast. But the Canadians object. Why? Because they don't want the environmental risk in their country. They are asking the United States to do bear their burden.…”