“It’s time for the President to make up his mind—is he going to follow the science or just the politics? He should approve the Keystone XL pipeline. He should do it now. He should do the job that he was elected to do so middle-class Americans can do the j
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s speech.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about how the White House has run out of excuses on the Keystone XL pipeline. Barrasso calls on President Obama to put politics aside and approve the pipeline now so we can put Americans back to work and increase our nation’s energy security.
Excerpts of his remarks:
“The President says he wants to do things that don’t require legislation. Well, without any legislation at all, the President could approve the Keystone XL pipeline and expand opportunity for thousands of American families.
“Over the past five years a small number of lawyers, consultants, bureaucrats and environmental activists have made a living over haggling about the pipeline.
“Meanwhile, the President has turned his back on middle-class people who are in need of jobs, desperate need of jobs, people living in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraksa, Kansas, other states.
“TransCanada submitted its application for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline more than five years ago.
“Ever since, President Obama has wasted America’s time and money grasping for excuses in order for him to be able to reject it.
“His State Department’s latest environmental review confirms yet again that the pipeline shows no significant environmental impact and it will support more than 42,000 jobs.
“Last summer the President sneered at those jobs. He said they were quote ‘just a blip relative to the need.’
“For out-of-work Americans, those jobs are more than a blip. For them, this is more than a pipeline. It’s a lifeline.
“It is way past time for President Obama to quit stalling and to finally do the right thing for those Americans.
“They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Yet, the Obama Administration has been doing the same thing over and over and over and over again.
“We’ve had a draft environmental impact statement. We’ve had a supplemental environmental impact statement and we’ve had a final environmental impact statement. Then we had a draft supplemental environmental impact statement. And Friday we have the final supplemental environmental impact statement.
“People at home listening to this would say why would it take two years? And it did—it took two years to go from the supplemental draft environmental impact statement to the draft supplemental environmental impact statement. It makes no sense at all.
“This is the fifth report by the State Department, and the conclusion is always the same. They could do this report another 5 times or another 50 times. The result is still going to be the same.
“It’s a simple cost-benefit analysis. The cost is no significant environmental impact. The benefits, at least 42,000 jobs and a chance to reduce our dependence on overseas oil.
“So now that the complaints from the far left environmental extremists have been debunked, what do they say?
“Well, according to the news reports, some will have protests and some are planning lawsuits.
“The Washington Post’ had a story this Sunday titled ‘For pipeline, the gut check moment.’ It talks about some of the fanatical anti-energy protesters who refuse to accept the science. They want to pressure the President and the Secretary of State, Secretary of State Kerry, to make sure that these jobs never get created.
“Here is one quote, Neeva Goodwin, co-director of the Global Development Environment Institute at Tufts University in Massachusetts, a contributor to Senator Kerry’s past campaigns, said that she will be opposing the pipeline in another way.
“The article quotes her as saying ‘I’m working with an informal network of political donors that will be pushing Kerry to do the right thing.’
“Political donors and activists on the left are committed to killing this pipeline, regardless of the science, regardless of the middle-class jobs and regardless of what’s in the best interest of the country.
“President Obama’s former Secretary of Energy said yesterday, ‘The decision on whether the construction should happen was a political one, not a scientific one.’
“So much for the President of the United States saying the decision would be based on science.
“The President’s activist base will be mobilizing and fighting against good American jobs. So what does the Administration itself say? It says it wants to wait for some more opinions.
“The White House Chief of Staff said Sunday that the President wants officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department and other agencies to tell what they think.
“Well, I know what the former Secretary of Energy thought. He said the decision on whether the construction should happen was a political decision, not a scientific one.
“You don’t need to look any further. Look at the history of the project. TransCanada applied to build this pipeline more than five years ago. The Obama Administration has set deadlines and said that it would make a decision.
“First it was the end of 2011. Then it was after the election in 2012. Then it was at the end of 2013. So President Obama promised Republican Senators when he met with us last March.
“The Administration has missed every deadline, broken every promise, and it’s interesting because the last time the Senate voted on the subject, 17 Democrats joined every Republican to support the pipeline.
“The Obama Administration is still trying to find a way to evade and to avoid having to make a decision.
“You know, this really ought to be embarrassing to an administration.
“President Obama was elected to make decisions. The science is settled. The President should be embarrassed when his former Secretary of Energy says the decision on whether the construction should happen was a political one and not a scientific one.
“Any objections have been heard, they’ve been answered. There are no more excuses. It’s time for the President to make up his mind—is he going to follow the science or just the politics?
“He should approve the Keystone XL pipeline. He should do it now. He should do the job that he was elected to do so middle-class Americans can do the jobs that they desperately want to do.”
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