The Keystone XL Pipeline
Floor Speech
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I would like to speak today in support of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The Keystone XL Pipeline is one of the largest shovel-ready infrastructure projects in the United States. It would bring oil from North Dakota and from Canada to refineries along the gulf coast and in the Midwest. The pipeline would strengthen America's energy security and create tens of thousands of new jobs. These are good-paying jobs. But don't take my word for it, just consider what representatives of organized labor have had to say.
The president of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO said:
[A]ny discussion of the Keystone XL project begins and ends with one word: JOBS.
He went on to say:
Throughout America's Heartland, the Keystone Pipeline represents the prospect for 20,000 immediate jobs ..... without one single dollar of government assistance.
The general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said:
The Keystone Pipeline project will offer working men and women a real chance to earn a good wage and support their families in this difficult economic climate.
Consider the remarks of the general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America. He said:
This project ..... is not just a pipeline, but ..... a lifeline for thousands of desperate working men and women.
House Democrats also recognize the importance of this Keystone XL Pipeline. This summer, 47 House Democrats voted in favor of the bill to require a decision on the pipeline by November 1. On October 19, 22 House Democrats wrote a letter to the President. This is what they told President Obama:
America ..... cannot afford to say no to this privately funded ..... jobs-creating infrastructure project.
They went on to say:
It is in our national interest to have a Presidential Permit issued for the Keystone XL Pipeline as soon as possible.
Senate Democrats also support the Keystone XL Pipeline. Senator Baucus of Montana said:
We need to put Montanans back to work and cannot afford further delays to the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Senator Tester, also from Montana, said:
The Keystone Pipeline will create Montana jobs and it should not have to wait 14 months for an up-or-down decision.
Senator Manchin of West Virginia said:
I'm for the Keystone Pipeline ..... all the trade unions, everyone's for it. It creates thousands of jobs.
Senator Begich and Senator Landrieu have also written in support of the pipeline.
Until recently, President Obama suggested that he too believed the pipeline to be in the interests of the United States. On April 6, the President held a townhall event in Pennsylvania. There, he received a question about Canadian oil sands production. In response, the President of the United States discussed the Keystone XL Pipeline. This is what he said:
..... importing oil from countries that are stable and friendly is a good thing. .....
Let me repeat. The President of the United States said:
..... importing oil from countries that are stable and friendly is a good thing. .....
However, on November 10, the President reversed course, and he showed a different side. After protests from environmentalists, the President decided to punt his decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 Presidential election.
Many in the press say the President delayed his decision so that environmental activists would turn out on election day to support him. If true, the President's decision to delay the approval of the pipeline was not only political, it was also cynical--cynical because these environmental activists believe they can shut down Canadian oil sands production. They believe they can shut down the production by stopping construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. It simply is not true, and the President knows it. But maybe the President does not want to be honest with these environmental activists. Maybe he just doesn't want to disappoint them. He doesn't want his political base to stay home on election day.
But don't take it from me; consider what Austan Goolsbee had to say. Many Members of this Chamber know he is the former Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, this White House Council--President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. This is what he said:
It is a bit naive to think that the tar sands would not be developed if they don't build that pipeline.
Eventually, it's going to be built. It may go to the Pacific, it may go through Nebraska, but it is going to be built somewhere.
Again, Mr. Goolsbee was President Obama's top economic adviser.
Why are the Canadian oil sands going to be developed? Because the oil sands are a huge national asset for Canada, and Canada will not allow that asset to be stranded.
Let's consider the findings of the Canadian Research Institute. This is an independent, not-for-profit research entity that was established in 1975. Its mission is to provide relevant, independent, and objective economic research on energy and environmental issues.
This June, they released a report. It was entitled ``Economic Impacts of Staged Development of Oil Sands Projects in Alberta from 2010 to 2035''--a 25-year future look. This report looked at a variety of scenarios, including one in which no new pipeline capacity is built. Under that scenario, the institute estimated that the total impact on Canada's GDP would be about $2.3 trillion over those 25 years. It also estimated that the compensation for Canadian employees will reach almost $650 billion over this same period. It estimated that the direct, indirect, and induced employment in Canada will grow from 390,000 jobs to a peak of 490,000 jobs in 2020, just 9 years from now. It also estimated that the royalties to Alberta will go from approximately $3.6 billion in 2010 to a peak of $22.6 billion in 2020--in 10 years, from $3.6 billion to $22.6 billion in royalties to Alberta.
Again, the Canadian Energy Research Institute made all of these estimates assuming that no additional pipeline capacity will be built. What do these estimates mean? They mean Canada will continue to develop its oil resources whether or not Keystone XL Pipeline or any other pipeline is built. It means the environmental activists trying to shut down oil sands production are naive at best.
It also means that the President, President Obama, is once again failing to lead, that he once again is failing to be forthright with the American people, and that he is unwilling and failing to make difficult decisions. The President is showing that he thinks his job is really the only job that matters.
Of course we all know Canada will not sit idly by. Canada will add additional pipeline capacity whether or not Keystone XL Pipeline is built.
Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has said that the decision to delay approval of Keystone XL Pipeline demonstrates ``the necessity of making sure that we're able to access Asian markets for our energy products.'' That is what the Canadian Prime Minister had to say. He was just in Washington last week. Alberta's Premier, Alison Redford, said that the decision to delay approval of the pipeline ``is a clear reminder about the strategic importance of diversifying our export markets.'' ``A clear reminder about the strategic importance of diversifying our export markets.'' In other words, Canada has a tremendous amount of oil, and Canada will ensure that its oil is brought to market. It may go to the United States, it may go to China, it may go to another country, but Canada's oil will be brought to market.
Thus, the question for President Obama is very simple, very straightforward: Is it in America's interests to reduce our dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf and from Venezuela? Is it in America's interest to create tens of thousands of new jobs at a time of 8.6 percent unemployment? The answer is abundantly obvious. The answer, of course, is, yes, it is in America's best interests to reduce our dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf and Venezuela. It is in America's interest to create tens of thousands of new jobs at a time of 8.6 percent unemployment.
It is time that the President starts to say yes and stops saying no to jobs and to energy--yes to energy security, yes to tens of thousands of new good-paying jobs.
Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
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