Energy, Security, American Jobs, and the Keystone XL Pipe Line

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRIFFITH of Virginia. Thank you, And I appreciate that. I'm not sure about phenom, but I'm very appreciative to be on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

We have a lot of issues in my district. For those of you who are watching this who aren't familiar with my district, I represent southwest Virginia. It is a big energy-producing region of the State of Virginia.

And in Virginia, we understand that we should use our own resources to create jobs. So I come here today for jobs to be created in the United States--not in Virginia directly, but in another part of this great Nation, because the issues are often the same. And for some reason, this administration is standing in the way of the creation of jobs in the energy industry.

In Virginia, we have asked repeatedly to be able to drill off our coast in order to find oil and natural gas. We want to use our resources to create jobs. We started asking for this in Virginia back in 2004. At that time we had Democrat Governors, and they blocked our efforts to send this to the Federal Government. Later, having a change of heart, one of the Governors decided, as they were on their way out the door, that they would send the request forward. But to this date the President has not realized that we can create jobs. But our jobs, unlike the jobs in Nebraska and other parts of the United States affected by Keystone, they would be several years down the road.

What we have here is the Nation's best shovel-ready project. In reality, it's ready to go. And while it's not American oil, it's Canadian oil. And one would have to believe that the Canadians don't care about their environment to be opposed to this pipeline.

One would have to believe that the President of the United States would prefer to see the oil from Canada going to China. One would have to believe that the President of the United States would prefer for us to buy oil from other nations, like Venezuela and some of the Arab nations that don't care for us one iota, than to do this pipeline.

One would have to believe that, for some reason, we want to be dependent, and this President wants us to be dependent on other nations who don't care for us, who don't appreciate our democratic, republican form of government, and who don't understand that jobs and the economy are a driving concern, something that we must pay attention to and that we must do it now.

And here we have thousands of jobs, thousands of jobs. We've heard the number 20,000. Those are direct jobs. You can multiply that number out beyond and beyond. And they're being stopped.

And if are you an energy producer and you see something that makes as much sense as the Keystone pipeline being stopped dead in its tracks because the President doesn't want to make a decision until next year, and maybe the next year after that, you have to believe that it's not worth investing here in the United States for energy concerns.

I had a fellow came up to me recently back home. He said, MORGAN, I want to tell you something. He showed me the article he'd found. He said, I've always invested in American energy. That's where I've always put my money. He said, But right now the situation is so uncertain--and this was before we knew the President was going to delay this very reasonable project, the Keystone pipeline. He said, I'm now investing in southern Africa with a consortium that has, I believe it was Australians, South Africans, and Brazilians working on a project in Mozambique. He said, I didn't want to do it, but I don't know what choice I have when you look at what is coming out of the administration, when they don't want us to invest in American energy.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you, I came here today--this does not directly affect my district, but it does affect my country, and I care deeply about my country.

Our country needs jobs. We need affordable energy. Keystone pipeline helps us both have jobs and affordable energy. And that is why it's important for every person in the United States to understand that we must have the Keystone pipeline; and the sooner we start, the sooner those jobs occur, and the sooner we get more oil supply that's not from our adversaries in the world, the people who would like to see the United States torn down, but from our friend Canada, who understands that together we can build a more prosperous North America.

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