Reply from Senator Markey

Massachusetts Senator Markey's position is based on FACTS and well-reasoned, as always!

We should be proud Senator Markey represents Massachusetts!

When completed, it has been estimated that the Dirty XL Pipeline will employ 30 people, while Clean Energy Jobs continue to soar.

EDWARD J. MARKEY MASSACHUSETTS		218 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20510 (202) 224-2742
	United States Senate January 30, 2015

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding the Keystone XL pipeline. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.

Before I was elected to the United States Senate, I was the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee and a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, giving me close involvement in the debate over our country's energy policy and the Keystone XL pipeline. Our nation's energy policy should protect our air and water, address the threat of global warming by reducing carbon pollution, strengthen our energy security by reducing our country's dependence on foreign oil, and create jobs in the United States by encouraging the development of clean energy.

I oppose the Keystone pipeline project because it would not advance any of these goals. The Keystone XL pipeline would ask the United States to bear all of the environment risks without ensuring any benefits for American consumers or our energy security. The pipeline would transport Canadian tar sands oil, some of the dirtiest, most pollution-packed oil on the planet, through the United States to refineries in Texas, where it could be exported to foreign markets. Last year, we exported more than 1 billion barrels of refined petroleum products from the United States. Roughly 80 percent of those exports were from the Gulf of Mexico, exactly where the Keystone pipeline would terminate.

TransCanada, the foreign company proposing this pipeline, would like to use our country as a middleman to transport this dirty oil from Canada to the rest of the world. When I asked a senior TransCanada official during a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee whether he would commit to keeping the oil and refined fuels from the Keystone pipeline in America, he said "no." We should not allow our climate to be harmed by this dirty oil, and then add the insult of exporting that oil abroad to benefit other economies. That is a bad deal for U.S. consumers, our energy security and our planet.

When the Senate considered S.1, the Keystone Pipeline Approval Act, I introduced an amendment that would have called the oil industry's bluff that the Keystone XL pipeline would enhance our energy security. My legislation would have ensured that if the Keystone XL pipeline is approved, the oil and refined fuels from the pipeline stay in the United States. There is nothing in S. 1 or current U.S. law to prevent the oil transported through the Keystone XL pipeline from simply being exported to foreign markets. That is unacceptable. Unfortunately, instead of holding a straight up-or-down vote my amendment, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle used a procedural maneuver to block my amendment by a vote of 57-42 on January 20, 2015.

The proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline also continue to ignore the lessons of recent tar sands oil spills such as the ExxonMobil pipeline spill in Arkansas in 2013 and the Enbridge tar sands spill in Michigan in 2010. Right now, there is a loophole that allows tar sands oil to avoid paying taxes into our oil spill cleanup fund even though it can be more difficult and costly to clean up than regular crude. Tar sands oil, like that would be transported through the Keystone pipeline, currently gets a free ride through U.S. pipelines because of this loophole. That means that if this Canadian tar sands oil spills, it will be American taxpayers footing the bill for the cleanup. I filed an amendment in the Senate to S.1 that would close this loophole for tar sands oil. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted against this important amendment to protect our environment and taxpayers by a vote of 54-44 on January 29, 2015.

I spoke in opposition to and voted against this legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline but S. 1. was approved by the Senate by a vote of 62 - 36 on January, 29, 2015. The Keystone XL pipeline would force America to bear the environmental risk while oil companies reap the financial rewards. It would increase our emissions of heat trapping gases. And at the end of the day, it wouldn't even increase our energy security. I do not believe this pipeline is in the national interest and it should be rejected. I am pleased that the White House has said that the President would veto the Keystone legislation, should it reach him. I will continue to closely monitor this legislation as it moves through the legislative process.

I believe that our nation needs an energy strategy that includes wind, solar and energy efficiency. We need to level the energy playing field by extending tax credits for the wind, solar and other renewable energy industries that are creating permanent jobs in Massachusetts and across our country.

Thank you again for contacting me about this issue. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. To sign up for my newsletter, visithttp://www.markey.senate.gov/newsletter. You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Markey
United States Senator