Providing For Consideration of H.R. 5682, Approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding. It seems it should be so unnecessary to have something that makes so much common sense become so historic, and yet, here, we find ourselves at a historic moment.

After years of debate and accommodation, the most environmentally studied and accommodated pipeline in the history of the world has been stranded on the President's desk, held hostage by Hollywood advisers and liberals, donors to politicians who either don't understand the issue or don't care.

But as signals of a possible vote in the United States Senate are being transmitted, the American people ought to find comfort in the fact that politics works, that when the American people speak, even the United States Senate listens.

So I am grateful that Congressman Cassidy has brought this bill to the people's House, a bill that originated with my Senator, Senator Hoeven in the Senate, so that we can tee it up for them this week so that next week they can do what they should have done a long time ago and pass this bill.

You know, I am a big part of the Keystone pipeline. When I was on the North Dakota Public Service Commission years ago, I carried the pipeline portfolio. I happened to oversee the siting of the original Keystone pipeline that goes through North Dakota and goes down to Cushing, Oklahoma. It crosses the border in North Dakota. It crosses eight counties in my State, 600 landowners' land. It crosses farms of farmers who know how to work the land and know the value of the topsoil and understand the value of the minerals underneath it. It crosses two scenic rivers and includes five pumping stations and runs 217 miles through my State.

I am proud to say that while not universally loved, not one inch of that pipeline through North Dakota required condemnation proceedings, not because I am a great regulator, but because North Dakotans understand value--the value of domestic energy, the value it has to job creation. And I want to talk about jobs in a little bit.

As vast reserves of oil are discovered and new technologies unlocked, energy security is within our reach this decade. The amount of oil that would flow to U.S. refineries in the Keystone XL represents 36 percent of what we import today from the Persian Gulf alone. The fact of the matter is that, today, over 71 percent of the Bakken shale crude that is produced in North Dakota is shipped by rail. Now, I have nothing against trains--I thank God that we have a robust rail system--but railing oil costs more. It is a little more dangerous. It is not as efficient as pipelines. It also requires trucks to get the oil to the rail facilities. Again, trucks are good--they are not bad at all--but they are not as safe or as efficient as pipelines, and they take a toll on our highway infrastructure.

According to the director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, Lynn Helms, approval of the Keystone XL will cause two things to happen, and listen carefully: 300 to 500 truckloads per day will be taken off of North Dakota highways, and there will be 10 fewer trains every week leaving the State. He also calculates that greenhouse gas emissions from rail are 1.8 times that of a pipeline and 2.9 times the emissions from pipeline transportation, and spills from truck transportation occurs at three to four times the rate of spills from pipelines. So yes, sometimes accidents happen, but they happen far more frequently with trucks.

Approval of the XL will result in 450,00 to 950,000 kilograms per day less greenhouse gas emissions in North Dakota alone, as well as significant decreases in dust and 60 to 80 fewer spills per year.

America's national security, Mr. Speaker, and America's economic security are tied directly to America's energy security. We can do a lot better, and we need to.

Now, the environmental safeguards in the Keystone pipeline--I said it is the most studied pipeline in the history of the world--they are rigorous and they are appropriate. They have been tested and they work. I can attest to that. I toured the Keystone during construction, and I met many of the men and women who worked on the line. Those, Mr. Speaker, are real jobs. Those pipe layers are real workers doing real jobs. The restaurant owners, the hotel owners, the retailers, the subcontractors, those are real jobs, and they should not be diminished by considering them something other than real jobs. We have the lowest workforce participation rate since 1978 in this country. Let's put people back to work.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased today to stand here and support this rule and ask my colleagues to do the same. Support final passage. Put people back to work and make America more energy secure and keep the prices low for the American consumer.

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