Nick Rahall: “We've had a short debate here, and I'm sure it will continue during the amendment process. My concerns are as I stated…”

“We've had a short debate here, and I'm sure it will continue during the amendment process. My concerns are as I stated in my opening comments. The fact that we are deeming a foreign company the outright right, giving them a permit, without any further requirements or actions needed, is of deep concern to me. As I said, I have many coal companies that mine in a responsible way in West Virginia. They've gone through the responsible processes of obtaining a permit. Granted, they're having trouble in some areas. At least they know that they have to obtain a permit to mine. They're not asking to outright be deemed to have a permit without having to show how responsible they are in their operations. But in this legislation, to give a foreign company an outright application, is truly concerning to this particular Member who supports the pipeline project. We had some discussion in committee last week about what I and others view as preferential treatment for a foreign company, and some on the majority side of the aisle refused to concede that TransCanada is a foreign company or even that Canada is a foreign country. You know what? The last time I checked, you do need a passport to enter Canada. That's really beside the point, but I did want to raise it since I'm sure it will come up before this debate is concluded. The point is that this bill waives a permit for such a major undertaking.…”