Cramer Statement on President Obama's Rejection of Keystone XL Pipeline

Statement

Congressman Kevin Cramer today released the following statement after President Obama officially rejected the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The application to build the pipeline was first submitted by TransCanada seven years ago on September 19, 2008. By contrast, the permit for the first Keystone pipeline was approved in three years.

"I'm not at all surprised by the President's announcement nor am I surprised by the timing of it. It's consistent with his extreme environmental anti-growth, anti-American jobs agenda. And, he usually makes these announcements on Fridays prior to Congressional district work weeks so he doesn't have to answer to the United States Congress. This announcement only makes the obvious official. I'm going to continue to promote policies to grow the U.S. economy and enhance energy security for the United States and our allies while he continues his move to promote policies that destroy the economy and make the country and the world less safe."

The pipeline would have had a capacity of moving 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day, including 100,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude oil. In addition, Keystone XL would have created approximately 42,000 jobs across the United States.

Construction of the pipeline would have increased traffic safety in North Dakota by removing 300 to 500 long-haul trucks from North Dakota roads. The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources estimates the approval of the pipeline would have reduced to highway fatalities in North Dakota by three to six per year and injury crashes by 85 to 150 annually.

Congressman Cramer was the lead sponsor of H.R. 3, the Keystone XL Pipeline Act, which passed on a bipartisan majority with 238 Republicans and 28 Democrats voting in favor on Jan. 9. The bill authorized the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of the pipeline, deeming the Secretary of State's January 2014 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and all other federal agency consultation or review. President Obama vetoed the legislation.

Click on image below to view comments from Cramer during debate on passage of H.R. 3.

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