Telling the Truth about Keystone XL

WASHINGTON--Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) urged Congress to oppose building the Keystone XL pipeline which will undo the progress America has made to become more energy efficient and reduce carbon pollution.

Below is a video and transcript of the speech.

Madam Speaker, famous story teller Mark Twain once said, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story," And proponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline are following that advice very well. Supporters are painting an awfully rosy picture of Keystone's benefits, while completely ignoring the truth about the devastating damage it could cause.

TransCanada, the Canadian company that wants to build Keystone XL, claims the pipeline is safe, but this is the same company that operates the existing Keystone pipelinewhich spilled a dozen times in the first year of operation. The worst spill released 21,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota, contaminating local soil and water.

TransCanada claims that significant spills would be few and far between, but engineers at the University of Nebraska found that the company ignored data on spills and failed to factor in the more corrosive tar sands oil transported in Keystone XL. The engineers determined that instead of being safe, Keystone XL could have as many as 91 major oil spills over the life of the pipeline. This concerns me because Keystone XL will run through 2,000 miles of American farmland and over our country's largest water aquifer, the Ogallala. This aquifer provides drinking water for two million people and supplies water to more than one fourth of our nations irrigated farmland.

Most Americans understand that oil spills in the past have had severe environmental impacts, but any Keystone XL spill would be truly catastrophic. Keystone XL spills are more dangerous because tar sands oil is heavier than conventional oil meaning it would soak into soil and flow into water, sinking, contaminating miles of river and shoreline. Tar sands oil is also the world's dirtiest oil, and approving the pipeline will accelerate its production—endangering our families, communities and climate.

When extracted and refined, tar sands oil emits 17 percent more carbon pollution than conventional oil production, which contributes to climate change. With 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil flowing through the pipeline each day, the metric tons of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere each year would be equal to putting more than five and half million more cars on our roads. This means that building Keystone XL will undo the progress America has made to become more energy efficient and reduce carbon pollution for the sake of our environment.

The bottom line is Keystone XL brings a whole lot of environmental risk and very little reward. Proponents claim the pipeline will be great for the economy because it will promote jobs and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. The data, however, doesn't support the claims that the pipeline will create 20,000 American jobs. The State Department says Keystone would only create 35 permanent jobs and fewer temporary construction jobs than initially projected. Proponents claim the pipeline will lower gas prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But in reality it will do neither and prices at Midwestern pumps could actually increase!

The pipeline will divert oil from Midwestern refineries designed to produce gasoline to Texas Gulf refineries designed to produce diesel, which has a high overseas demand. Oil economists found a decline in gasoline production would increase gas prices in the Midwest between five to forty cents per gallon. We should not move forward with Keystone XL when we know the environmental impact far outweighs the projected minimal economic and job benefits.

Our focus should be on strengthening our clean energy economy that has a job growth rate four times faster than any other sector. We've increased our solar capacity to power more than 2.2 million homes, and made wind power an affordable alternative energy source.

When something seems too good to be true, it usually is. The Keystone XL Pipeline sets false expectations about gas prices and job growth. But the truth is it will only accelerate climate change, harm our environment and jeopardize the health of our communities.