On the recordNovember 18, 2014
I rise to address S. 2280, which would approve construction of the Keystone Pipeline to transport tar sands heavy oil from Canada to the gulf coast. The key consideration is whether this bill--by authorizing the pipeline--would contribute significantly to global warming, which is already damaging our rural resources and our future economic prospects with profound consequences for families in America and around the world. Also, are there better ways to create jobs that would enhance rather than damage our world? In the words of President Theodore Roosevelt: Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us. Let's start by addressing the vision that President Roosevelt put forward and examine the impact of the Keystone Pipeline on atmospheric carbon dioxide pollution and global warming. In this chart we see, going back 800,000 years, that the carbon dioxide has gone up and down. In recent years it has been quite steady until the start of the Industrial Revolution, and then it has soared-- soared above levels it has been at for hundreds of thousands of years. In this second chart, we see that there is absolutely no question that heat--put here in blue--correlates to the carbon dioxide in red.…





