WASHINGTON,D.C.—It’s fitting that one last cycle of the Keystone XL review process concluded on February 2, because no movie better captures the needlessly protracted pipeline saga than Groundhog Day.
Like a weatherman reliving the same day over and over in Punxsutawney, Americans have seen what should have been a routine process turn into six years of déjà vu—with one positive State Department assessment after another followed by one contrived delay after another from the Obama Administration.
The conclusion of the fifth and final State Department assessment in January 2014 kicked off a National Interest Determination period that should have lasted 90 days.
The Obama Administration managed to delay this last phase of review until after the election, but the clock has finally run out just days after Senate passage of bipartisan legislation to move forward with the pipeline.
Cross-border pipeline permits typically take 18-24 months to approve, and the United States has never denied one.
During the record 76 months Keystone XL has been under review, we’ve built more than 10,000 miles of oil and natural gas pipeline. That’s just part of the more than 184,000 miles of liquid transmission pipelines in the United States that transport oil and petroleum products at a 99.999 percent safety rate.
Five positive environmental assessments from the State Department over the course of six years have only made the case for Keystone XL stronger and answered all possible concerns.
The final review completed last January concluded that the cumulative greenhouse gas impacts from the pipeline will not “constitute a substantive contribution to the U.S. or global emissions.”
Canada already produces almost 2 million barrels of crude oil per day from its oil sands and will continue to develop these resources with or without Keystone XL.
That’s the heart of the matter for Keystone XL opponents. Their objection is based not so much on the merits of the project as their agenda to halt all fossil fuel exploration and production. But that’s simply unrealistic.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, oil and natural gas will still be responsible for providing nearly 60 percent of the country’s energy and more than 90 percent of our transportation fuels 25 years from now.
Keystone XL represents a safe, efficient means for supplying our energy needs from a reliable neighbor and reducing reliance on energy resources from less stable regions overseas.
With the right policies, we have the potential to supply 100 percent of U.S. liquid fuel needs from North American sources within 10 years.
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Transporting 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada, North Dakota and Montana, Keystone XL is a crucial step toward that energy security milestone.
Unable to deny State Department findings that the pipeline will support 42,000 jobs, President Obama has taken to denigrating the jobs as “temporary.” But the Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge and countless other American infrastructure projects were built by construction workers carrying out temporary jobs—the only kind of construction job—in less time than Keystone XL has been under review.
Although the economy is improving, we’re in no position to veto 42,000 good-paying jobs just so the White House can score political points with a radical minority.
Poll after poll shows voters—whether Democrat, Republican or Independent—strongly support Keystone XL. So does the labor community and bipartisan majorities in Congress.
President Obama is correct that our infrastructure needs go beyond one pipeline. But our long-term energy outlook and global competitiveness depend on decisions we make today.
Keystone XL is an investment in our future energy and economic security. We can’t afford to delay it any longer.
