Keystone XL Pipeline Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. HEITKAMP. I thank the Senator.

From the start, let me say that Senator Boxer and I are not on the
same side on the principal bill. I have long been one of the staunchest
supporters of the Keystone XL Pipeline bill.

A lot of what we have heard today is about the consequences of aging
infrastructure. So the question I have for Senator Boxer is: Would it
not make sense, as we are talking about this Keystone XL Pipeline bill,
that we find common ground that we all should agree that we need the
resources to have the regulatory authority and the regulatory personnel
to go out and make sure that aging infrastructure--the infrastructure
underneath the Great Lakes and what happened now in the Yellowstone
River--that we have a robust and very complete PHMSA organization that
has the personnel to go out and follow the pipeline, test the pipeline,
and review the results? But even as important to me is PHMSA's role in
making sure that our transportation of oil on the railroad is actually
adequate, that we have adequate regulation.

So one of my amendments--not pending but filed--is, in fact, an
amendment that would address directly what I would hope would be common ground for everyone in the Senate, which is making sure we are, in
fact, regulating interstate pipelines.

I also wish to talk about how we have an ``all of the above'' policy
that everybody talks about where we somehow don't seem to get to that
point.

One of the amendments I have at the desk, which I would dearly love
to call up and make sure that it gets a vote, is an amendment that
would provide a long-term--just 5 years--glide path for wind energy.

I think we have seen, as we have included this in the tax extenders,
this stop-and-go policy that has, in fact, not only put the companies'
lives on hold but also their employees' lives.

I am hopeful. We don't know how the vote is going to turn out. No one
knows until the vote is done, but I am hopeful that we will be able to
come back and introduce so many of these amendments that my colleagues
have advanced--some of which I agree with and some of which I don't.

But that is the nature of the Senate--that we actually have a vote,
because I think, as a believer, I have good ideas but my ideas should
have a debate in the Senate.

But wouldn't the Senator agree that one common area that we all share
is making sure that we have a robust regulatory environment to protect
our waterways, to protect our farmers' soil from any leaks, and to make
sure that any leaks, to the extent they are preventable, are prevented.

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