Jeff Bingaman: “I thought it appropriate that I try to respond to the Senator from Alaska. I tried to explain earlier that my thinking…”

“I thought it appropriate that I try to respond to the Senator from Alaska. I tried to explain earlier that my thinking at the time we put the bill together for consideration in the Senate was that we should bring a bill to the Senate floor that was route neutral. We had received urging that we prohibit use of the northern route. But it did not seem to me, knowing what we did at that point, that was the right course. Since then, we have gotten more information from the Governor of Alaska, from the Senators from Alaska, from the environmental community, and from those who currently hold a right of way to construct the pipeline under existing law. It seems to me the weight of the evidence is clearly in favor of the amendment that Senator Daschle has now proposed and for which I think we have good bipartisan support. I point out also that this amendment does not limit options as far as where the pipeline goes, except that it prohibits the use of the northern route. That is what it does. Clearly, I think the consensus now in the Senate among those I have spoken to is that is the correct course to follow, and I think that is what we are trying to do by this amendment.”