Keystone XL Pipeline Act -- Continued
Floor Speech
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Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I want to say that amendment No. 155 is a
very important amendment. It is common sense. It is practical. The
National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA as it is known, is one of the
most emulated statutes in the world. It is something that many people
see as valuable in other countries because NEPA, in fact, by many is
referred to as the modern-day environmental Magna Carta.
NEPA regulations require agencies to supplement already-issued
environmental impact statements when significant new circumstances or
information is found to exist relating to the environmental impact of a
project. The pending Keystone bill, however--and quite surprisingly--
would deem the final environmental impact statement issued last January
to fully satisfy this NEPA requirement going ahead. This would remove
the obligation from permitting agencies to supplement any environmental
impact statements if significant new circumstances or information is
discovered.
This amendment I am putting forward, No. 155, would change that and
would preserve a commonsense obligation of agencies to supplement the
environmental impact statement for significant new circumstances or
information. In other words, if very pertinent information comes
forward, it would require there be a need to supplement the
environmental impact statement.
For example, if the proposed route of the pipeline were changed, it
could mean that drinking water supplies or critical resources would
have a higher risk of contamination from a spill. This amendment would
simply require consideration of significant changes so we don't go
blindly and put natural resources at greater risk without understanding
the impact.
This bill is for me common sense. It says, basically, if
circumstances change, we should make sure a new environmental impact
study is considered.
I would ask my colleagues to support this amendment and not provide
special treatment to a foreign company that American companies don't
get that could result in harm to fellow Americans.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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