Senator proposes bill to push through Keystone XL pipeline
Ouch. I guess we shouldn't be surprised but it's like somebody poured tar sands in my morning coffee. Yesterday Senator Lugar (R-IN) introduced a bill called the North American Energy Security Act, which would require the President to issue a permit for the Keystone XL project within 60 days and at the same time give the State of Nebraska the ability to move the route of the pipeline without delaying other parts of the project.
My understanding is that the bill would deem the current environmental impact statement as having met all the requirements under federal law. Isn't it nice when government works so quickly!
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) isn't happy. An outspoken opponent of the proposed oil sands pipeline, he is bashing the new GOP legislation.
From the Mobile Hill: Sanders is among the lawmakers who pushed for the State Department’s inspector general to probe State’s review process, which Sanders and other pipeline foes call biased towards developer TransCanada Corp. Sanders said in a statement Tuesday that Republicans are trying to “legislate a rubber stamp approval” of the proposed Alberta-to-Texas pipeline.
“At a time when the State Department Inspector General is conducting a special inquiry into possible conflicts of interest related to the State Department’s handling of this project, it is completely inappropriate to try to short-circuit the thorough environmental review process federal law requires,” he said.
Sanders said Congress should instead demand a new and independent review of the pipeline. “The more the American people learn about this project, and the significant greenhouse gas emissions and pollution increases it would cause, the stronger the opposition to it will become,” he said.
The National Resources Defense Council Blog has a good analysis of the bill:
The bill includes widely discredited figures about jobs and energy. The only independent studies on the project show that the pipeline would produce no net jobs and provide a route for oil from the United States to the international market.
The way to independence from foreign oil is through technologies that will allow us to use less of it. In addition, these clean energy technologies have the potential to create millions of long term jobs for America. Fortunately, Lugar’s bill does not appear likely to get the support it would need to pass the Senate. But it is a clear signal that powerful interests are seriously invested in seeing Keystone XL become a reality. Keystone XL may be in their interests, but it is not in the interests of the United States. This bill is a reminder that the American people will have to remain at the table if they want their interests to be represented.
So when President Obama put the brakes on the proposal, it only meant it was being delayed - and as the NRDC indicated this is no time to rest on this issue.
