Northen Route Approval Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Chairman, ever since the Arab oil embargoes of the 1970s that ravaged our economy and produced mile-long lines around gas stations, an avowed goal of our Nation has been to reduce our reliance on Middle Eastern oil.

In addition to the thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity, the Keystone pipeline will bring up to 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil a day into the American market--about half of what we currently import from the Middle East. Now, that bears repeating. The Keystone pipeline could cut our reliance on Middle Eastern oil by half all by itself. The left makes much of the fact that our markets are international and that some of that oil might enter that market. Well, that's possible, but I think it is far more likely that it will push Middle Eastern oil out of the American market.

The fine point is this: In the next international crisis, would you rather rely on Canada or Iraq to meet our petroleum needs?

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