Jim Matheson: “I thank the gentleman from Georgia for offering this motion and I thank him for yielding me this time. We've heard a lot…”

“I thank the gentleman from Georgia for offering this motion and I thank him for yielding me this time. We've heard a lot from different Members out here already about what the construction of this pipeline would mean in terms of increased capacity, of product coming from North American sources for U.S. oil consumption. We've heard about the jobs for the construction of the pipeline, and I'm not going to repeat all of those numbers and statistics. But I thought it would be helpful to talk about a couple of the issues that have been raised about this pipeline and try to clarify some of the facts about what's going on with this type of product and this type of pipeline. A lot of people think this is a brand new product. They're worried about product from oil sands. In fact, according to the Congressional Research Service, there are already five other pipelines that are bringing this product from Canada to the United States. In fact, for years this product has been coming to refineries in the State of Utah, where I'm from, and refined in refineries in North Salt Lake. The most recent of those five pipelines that brings this product from Canada was actually approved by the Obama administration in 2009. It brings 800,000 barrels a day from Canada into the United States.…”