[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 134 (Thursday, September 18, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           KEYSTONE PIPELINE

  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I said I was going to talk about an 
issue I know the Presiding Officer and I don't agree on. I have total 
respect for her view. The people of her State are so lucky to have her 
fighting their fight on energy. The people of my State have a 
disagreement. We are very fearful about climate change. So we are also 
worried about the health impact of the tar sands.
  I am going to make a few comments about why I think we should disrupt 
the process that is happening now with Keystone. It is a well-
established process for considering projects such as this. The purpose 
of the review process isn't just to waste time. It is to determine 
whether the construction of the Keystone tar sands pipeline is in fact 
in the national interest. This is important. It is a major project.
  In the past, Republicans have attempted to circumvent the review 
process for Keystone by creating shortcuts that in my opinion put our 
families' health at risk.
  I want to show you a chart. It shows you that tar sands oil is one of 
the filthiest kinds of oil on the planet.
  Let's look at a place in Texas where we see the tar sands oil being 
refined. This is Port Arthur. We have had visits from the Port Arthur 
community, and they said, please, we want to bear witness to the fact 
that this is what it looks like when these tar sands are burned. It 
hurts the health of our people. Residents along the gulf coast are 
suffering from asthma, respiratory illness, skin irritation, and 
cancer, and to get to the gulf coast the tar sands will be transported 
by pipeline through communities in environmentally sensitive areas in 
six States. It will pass through key sources of drinking water.
  Look what happened in West Virginia when they couldn't drink the 
water there. It was a nightmare.
  We have had experience with tar sands. People talk about how the 
pipeline is one thing, but it is what goes through it that is critical, 
and what is going to go through it if it gets built is the dirtiest, 
filthiest kind of water we know.
  What happens in places such as Detroit and Chicago, where they store 
the byproduct known as petcoke--take a look at this. This is what it 
looks like. It looks like filthy, dirty pollution, and unfortunately 
for the people, that is what it is.
  When the wind is blowing, we see black clouds containing concentrated 
heavy metals. Children playing baseball have been forced off the field 
to seek cover to avoid the black dust that pelts their homes and cars. 
Petcoke dust is a particulate matter, which is the most harmful of all 
air pollutants. Why? Its particles are so small, they lodge in your 
lungs and cause terribly severe asthma attacks, aggravate bronchitis 
and other lung diseases, and reduce the body's ability to fight 
infections. Asthma affects 12 out of every 26 people--and 7 million of 
those are children.
  If I could, I would ask the people in the gallery how many of them 
have asthma or know someone who has asthma. I know a lot of them would 
raise their hands. It is ubiquitous. We don't need more asthma.
  There are other ways to go, and my State and other countries are 
proving it. We can move to clean energy. We need to have a 
comprehensive human health impact on the tar sands that would go 
through that pipeline because human health is important. If you can't 
breathe, you can't work. It is as simple as that. If you can't breathe, 
you can't go to school and get an education. If you can't drink the 
water, it is a serious problem.
  While my Republican friends come down and say: Let's bypass all of 
this evidence and move forward, that is a dangerous idea. It is a 
dangerous idea.
  I went to China about a year ago. You cannot see one foot in front of 
the other in China. That is how bad the air is because they don't care 
about the environment. They say: Oh, we don't need rules; we don't need 
regulations. Build, build, build. Do it, do it, do it, do it. Go and 
get it out of the ground.
  There are moments we need to look at what we are doing. We are doing 
great right now on energy. Under this President we have become more 
energy efficient. Yes, there are places to drill, there are places to 
get energy, but it has to be clean and it has to be good.
  We have just come out of the hottest August ever known to humankind 
since we began keeping the records in the 1800s. Climate change is so 
real, the only place they don't know it is here is the United States 
Senate. They don't know. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. 
Everything is great. Everything is good.
  My colleague from Vermont is brilliant on this point, and we know the 
Keystone tar sands pipeline will create 17 percent more carbon than 
domestic oil. This is a dirty, filthy oil that is the equivalent of 
adding 5.8 million new cars to the road, or eight new coal powerplants.
  The State Department has concluded that the annual carbon pollution 
from just the daily operation of the pipeline will be the equivalent to 
adding 300,000 new cars on the road. If we do this, we will go backward 
on climate change. We cannot afford to do it.
  I know people get impatient with decisionmaking--whether it is 
deciding how to take the fight to ISIL--and I am glad I have a 
deliberative President who didn't just say: Do this and this. He 
thought about it and came up with an idea for a coalition to do it 
right. When you are looking at something such as the Keystone XL 
Pipeline, which is going to vastly increase the importation of this 
filthy, dirty oil, we ought to take our time.
  My very last point. I am so proud to chair the Environment and Public 
Works Committee. Four former Republican EPA Administrators who served 
under Presidents Nixon, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush 
spoke out on the need to address the danger of climate change.
  Really, this is not about bipartisanship. Ninety-seven percent of 
scientists tell us climate change is real and caused by human activity. 
Please, let's take our time. When we are faced with a project that will 
set us back--the dirtiest, dirtiest oil--a picture is worth a thousand 
words, and this is not what I want to leave to our children.
  I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. SANDERS. I thank Senator Boxer not only for her remarks today but 
for her years and years of commitment to the environmental committee 
and pointing out the danger of climate change and the toxicity in our 
air.

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