Keystone XL Pipeline Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, my amendment No. 155 ensures that Federal
agencies disclose to the public, landowners, and communities any
significant new circumstances learned about the impact of the Keystone
XL Pipeline.

The National Environmental Policy Act--NEPA--is one of the most
emulated statutes in the world. It is used as a model around the world.
NEPA in fact is often referred to as the modern-day ``environmental
Magna Carta.''

These are very commonsense ideas. NEPA regulations really do require
agencies to actually supplement already issued environmental impact
statements when significant new circumstances or information is found
to exist relating to the environmental impacts of a project.

The pending Keystone bill, however, would deem the final
environmental impact statement issued last January to fully satisfy
NEPA. In other words, if new circumstances come up that are germane and
important, they do not get a chance to alter that statement. My
amendment would change that.

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Mr. BOOKER. My amendment would change that and would preserve the
applications of agencies to supplement the EIS. For example, if the
proposed route of the pipeline was to change, it could mean drinking
water supplies and other critical resources would have a higher risk of
contamination from a spill. People should know that.

When American companies are building projects, they comply with this
important NEPA safeguard. Foreign companies should not be given a
shortcut. If American companies do it, foreign companies should do the
same.

This amendment is supported by the Natural Resources Defense Fund,
the Sierra Club, and a number of other organizations. I ask my
colleagues to support this amendment.

I yield the floor.

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