11 Democratic senators want a deadline on Keystone XL decision. And they want a yes, of course ift.tt/1lNjAtx Nudged along by freshman Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, 11 senators have written a letter to President Obama requesting a May 31 deadline on his decision regarding the Keystone XL pipeline. If approved, that pipeline would transport 830,000 barrels a day of bitumen, an especially polluting form of petroleum, to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. The southern leg of the pipeline is already operating. Under review is the 1,167-mile northern segment—from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska—which requires a presidential permit because it crosses an international boundary. Among other things, the letter states: After taking all of this additional information into account, the Final SEIS still reached virtually the same conclusion as previous reviews, that construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is “unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refineries in the United States based on expected oil-prices, oil-sands supply costs, transport costs and supply-demand scenarios.” Also, over half of the extraction today employs more traditional in situ drilling technologies, and will be used to recover a large majority of the resource. Given that there has been little change from previous conclusions reached, we believe that an ultimate decision should not be delayed any longer than is reasonably necessary. [...] The time to act is now Mr. President, please use your executive authority to expedite this process to a swift conclusion and a final decision so that we can all move forward on other energy infrastructure needs in this country. We ask that you bring this entire process to an end no later than May 31, 2014, and that your final decision be the right one, finding that the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest. In addition to Heitkamp, the senators are Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester and John Walsh of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Warner of Virginia and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia. Begich, Hagan, Landrieu, Pryor and Walsh are all up for election in November in states Obama lost in 2012. Other Senate Democrats who have indicated they favor building the pipeline, notably Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, who is also up for election this year, are conspicuous by their absence. Sen. Udall still believes Congress should not be injecting politics into this process,” said Mike Saccone, a spokesman for the senator. The pipeline is near the end of its final review. In addition to evaluating public comments that were submitted in the 30 days ending March 7, several federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency are looking over the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to assess whether building the pipeline is in the national interest, a requirement for approval by the administration. Although approving or rejecting the pipeline is, by executive order, the prerogative of the Secretary of State, Obama has made clear that the decision will be his. The 90-day review should be completed the last day of this month. The senators want Secretary of State John Kerry to make his recommendation within 15 days of that and for the president to make his at the end of May. There is a possible hang-up, however. A Nebraska judge has ruled that the states approval of a new route for the pipeline was unconstitutionally transferred to authorities that shouldnt be the deciders. Unless appeals reverse that ruling, the Nebraska Public Service Commission will decide whether the route is okay. That process could take seven months or longer. Approving the pipeline as being in the national interest before a final route is chosen would seem to be a violation of the spirit of honest review. The full text of the letter is below the fold. Daily Kos #Occupy #OWS #OccupyWB #OccupyIMF noworldbank #Usury #LiborGate #DIYMoney
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 00:20:03 +0000
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