[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20110-20111]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, at a time when our economy is 
staggering and global unrest is making long-term energy supplies 
uncertain, we are going to eventually be able to take up a bill that 
has been passed by the House that would bypass the President's decision 
to postpone until 2013, after the elections next year, a domestic 
infrastructure project that promises 20,000 immediate jobs, and 118,000 
spinoff jobs, and provides a stable energy source from our trusted 
neighbor Canada.
  After 3 years of unprecedented reviews by State and Federal agencies, 
the administration decided to delay the Keystone XL pipeline until 
after the 2012 election. Why? It would seem obvious that this is a 
decision that could now be made. The studies have been done. The jobs 
are needed. This is a privately financed traditional energy project. It 
is truly shovel ready. It is not a temporary government stimulus 
program based on wishful thinking, looking for things that can be done 
around the country. It is ready to go and it is privately financed, so 
there are no taxpayer dollars involved.
  The pipeline is our Nation's access to the estimated 170 billion 
barrels of recoverable oil in western Canadian tar sands. It will 
provide energy from a reliable trading partner and friend, lessening 
our dependence on oil from turbulent Middle East and North African 
countries and from dictators and terrorism-supporting regimes in South 
America.
  This turmoil leads to price spikes and supply interruptions that 
threaten our economy and our national security. If we can go forward 
with the pipeline project, it would have a tremendous impact on our 
Nation, where the project could stimulate $2.3 billion in new spending 
and generate more than $48 million in new tax revenues just in my home 
State of Texas.
  The pipeline construction would result in 700,000 additional barrels 
of oils per day being sent to refineries in Texas. Our State's 26 
refineries account for more than 25 percent of the total

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U.S. oil production, which is approximately 5 percent of worldwide 
capacity. Texas refineries working at capacity are of great benefit to 
the consumers of America. Oil is provided faster and more efficiently 
to domestic consumers and industry, bringing down the cost of energy to 
everyone in our country.
  Last night the House approved this legislation. President Obama 
continues to threaten to veto any bill that comes to his desk that 
involves the Keystone pipeline. So I think it is fair to ask: What is 
his plan? The administration recently announced the President's 5-year 
blueprint for the future of America's energy resources. For example, 
the plan limits the offshore energy development to less than 3 percent 
of offshore areas.
  The administration is decreasing our energy resources while other 
countries continue to increase their energy wealth, just off our coast 
in some instances, some as close as 25 miles from the U.S. waters. With 
the right policies, the oil and gas industry could create 1.4 million 
new jobs and raise $800 billion of additional government revenue by 
2030. That would come from people working. That would come from people 
in the economy buying things, creating new jobs, and paying taxes 
because they are earning money. That is the way we should increase 
revenue in this country, not by stimulus programs that add to our 
deficit and to the debt that is going to be inherited by our children.
  The administration is determined to pursue policies that limit our 
utilization of our own natural resources. Most other countries in the 
world are trying to develop their natural resources, and some do not 
have natural resources and wish they did. America has them but we are 
not using them.
  We could--with a single pipeline--do something that would lower the 
cost of energy and create new jobs and raise additional government 
revenue. The fact that we are debating this project today in the face 
of a frozen economy and rising energy insecurity is unthinkable. We do 
not need more Solyndra fiascos. We do not need to waste additional 
billions of taxpayer dollars to support failed businesses that would 
not exist without federal subsidies.
  This pipeline has not one taxpayer dollar in it. It is privately 
funded and will create private industry jobs that would be jobs that 
create more revenue for our country through the spending and the 
creation of still further jobs.
  We would be doing it with a trusted neighbor and ally, Canada. This 
is something we should do. I would love to see us do it in a bipartisan 
way in this Senate as the House has already done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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