Bicameral Task Force Co-Chairs React to Final SEIS on the Keystone XL Pipeline

Press Release

Today Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change Co-Chairs Rep. Henry A. Waxman and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse commented on the State Department release of the final supplemental environmental impact statement of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The statement includes projections of the carbon pollution impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline based on expected values for oil prices, tar sands production costs, transportation costs, supply-demand assumptions, and other pipelines, as well as projections of the carbon pollution impacts under alternative scenarios to account for the uncertainty in each of these factors.

"While still flawed, this environmental review recognizes that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline could have a significant effect on carbon pollution, depending on variables such as oil prices and transportation costs," said Rep. Waxman. "Keystone XL is the oil industry's number one priority because it is critical to their plans to triple production of tar sands, the most carbon-polluting oil on the planet. Approving the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be a huge step in the wrong direction on climate change -- a step America, and the world, can't afford to take."

"This isn't any normal pipeline. Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest fuels on Earth and pumping it through the Keystone pipeline would accelerate climate change," said Sen. Whitehouse. "The Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement released today underestimates key factors about the pipeline's effect on carbon pollution and climate change. Fortunately, today's statement isn't the last word. I urge Secretary Kerry and President Obama to look beyond State's flawed report, which is at odds with the President's Climate Action Plan, and deny the proposal."

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