House of Representatives Passes Keystone XL, Cramer Urges President to Approve Project

Press Release

Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amended version of the Keystone XL Pipeline Act, which moves the legislation to the President's desk for his signature. Congressman Kevin Cramer, who introduced the legislation in the House, said he hopes the version passed today provides President Obama the final language he needs to join the people's representatives in approving this important piece of transportation infrastructure.

Cramer said the amendments added to the bill offer the president political cover on a variety of fronts. One amendment encourages the inclusion of the spill tax on oil sands bitumen, requiring all oil companies to contribute a per-barrel tax to the government cleanup fund. A second amendment declares climate change is real and not a hoax, offering President Obama a useful statement from Congress ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Two further amendments are aimed at energy efficiency, including a provision which prevents a looming ban on the production of water heaters used by electric cooperatives for their demand response systems.

"For more than 28 years, we have worked closely with utilities around the country to help them manage their power generation and infrastructure through cost effective consumer load control programs using smart space and water heating systems. This bill will allow us to continue that important work," said Paul Steffes, CEO of Steffes Corporation in Dickinson, a diversified firm which manufactures grid-enabled electric resistance water heaters.

Cramer argues the construction of Keystone XL brings a wide range of benefits including employment opportunities, energy security, enhanced safety, environmental protection, and a beneficial exchange with Canada. In addition to supporting 42,000 jobs and further establishing the North American continent as a price setter for oil, it would increase traffic safety, rail safety, and reduce emissions by removing 300 to 500 long-haul trucks from North Dakota roads. The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources estimates greenhouse gas emissions are 1.8 times higher than pipelines for rail transportation.

In his remarks on the House floor, Cramer made a direct appeal for President Obama to approve the project, which has now waited 2,336 days for a Presidential Permit.

"You've asked for bipartisan bills. You've asked for us to work together. Here we have a bipartisan, bicameral solution. One that the American public supports in a big way, one that would create jobs, one that would lift up the middle class, Mr. President," he said. "I would just beg, Mr. Speaker, that the President would reconsider his veto threat on this important bipartisan jobs bill, and sign it when it comes to his desk so we can get people back to work, so we can become less dependent on foreign sources of oil from across the sea, and become more interdependent with our neighbors in Canada."

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