[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 21 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 21

 Expressing the sense of Congress that construction of the Keystone XL 
pipeline and the Federal approvals required for the construction of the 
Keystone XL pipeline are in the national interest of the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 31, 2013

  Ms. Landrieu (for herself, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. 
 Begich, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. Thune, Mr. Risch, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Johanns, 
and Mr. Barrasso) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
     was referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of Congress that construction of the Keystone XL 
pipeline and the Federal approvals required for the construction of the 
Keystone XL pipeline are in the national interest of the United States.

Whereas safe and responsible production, transportation, and use of oil and 
        petroleum products provide the foundation of the energy economy of the 
        United States, helping to secure and advance the economic prosperity, 
        national security, and overall quality of life in the United States;
Whereas the Keystone XL pipeline would provide short- and long-term employment 
        opportunities and related labor income benefits, such as government 
        revenues associated with taxes;
Whereas the State of Nebraska has thoroughly reviewed and approved the proposed 
        Keystone XL pipeline reroute, concluding that the concerns of Nebraskans 
        have had a major influence on the pipeline reroute and that the reroute 
        will have minimal environmental impacts;
Whereas the Department of State and other Federal agencies have conducted 
        extensive studies and analysis over a long period of time on the 
        technical, environmental, social, and economic impact of the proposed 
        Keystone XL pipeline;
Whereas assessments by the Department of State found that the Keystone XL 
        pipeline is ``not likely to impact the amount of crude oil produced from 
        the oil sands'' and that ``approval or denial of the proposed Project is 
        unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate of development in the 
        oil sands'';
Whereas the Department of State found that the incremental life cycle greenhouse 
        gas emissions associated with the Keystone XL project are estimated in 
        the range of 0.07 to 0.83 million metric tons of carbon dioxide 
        equivalents, with the upper end of this range representing \12/1,000\ of 
        1 percent of the 6,702,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted in 
        the United States in 2011;
Whereas after extensive evaluation of potential impact to land and water 
        resources along the 875-mile proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline, 
        the Department of State found, ``The analyses of potential impacts 
        associated with construction and normal operation of the proposed 
        Project suggest that there would be no significant impacts to most 
        resources along the proposed Project route (assuming Keystone complies 
        with all laws and required conditions and measures).'';
Whereas the Department of State found that ``[s]pills associated with the 
        proposed Project that enter the environment are expected to be rare and 
        relatively small'' and that ``there is no evidence of increased 
        corrosion or other pipeline threat due to viscosity'' of diluted bitumen 
        oil that will be transported by the Keystone XL pipeline;
Whereas, the National Research Council convened a special expert panel to review 
        the risk of transporting diluted bitumen by pipeline and issued a report 
        in June 2013 to the Department of Transportation in which the National 
        Research Council found that existing literature indicates that 
        transportation of diluted bitumen poses no increased risk of pipeline 
        failure;
Whereas plans to incorporate 57 project-specific special conditions relating to 
        the design, construction, and operations of the Keystone XL pipeline led 
        the Department of State to find that the pipeline will have ``a degree 
        of safety over any other typically constructed domestic oil pipeline''; 
        and
Whereas, the Department of State found that oil destined to be shipped through 
        the pipeline from the oil sands region of Canada and oil shale deposits 
        in the United States would otherwise move by other modes of 
        transportation if the Keystone XL pipeline is not built: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will promote 
        sound investment in the infrastructure of the United States;
            (2) construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will promote 
        energy security in North America and will generate an increase 
        in private sector jobs that will benefit both the region 
        surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline and the United States as a 
        whole; and
            (3) completion of the Keystone XL pipeline is in the 
        national interest of the United States.
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