Inhofe Statement on the President’s Rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released a statement following the Obama administration’s announcement to reject the Keystone XL pipeline:
“It comes as no surprise that after years of unnecessary delay and political gamesmanship, the president rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. His action denies tens of thousands of Americans of new, well-paying jobs and demonstrates his ambivalence towards American energy independence. This decision is an embarrassment to our country as China has previously stated it is ready to step in and seize this economic opportunity. As the president said when he visited Cushing, Oklahoma on March 22, 2012, we shouldn’t be sending energy jobs of tomorrow to other countries. Furthermore, it was disingenuous to make this final rejection based off global warming concerns. Five studies, with the latest one from the State Department in 2014, have concluded that the completion of the Keystone pipeline in the United States would have little impact on climate change. Instead, the president’s decision will work against his environmental objectives as it gives continued support to the transport of Canadian oil sands by rail throughout our country and will likely result in the export of oil to China, a country that will use it with much fewer environmental controls. It goes to show that the president is more interested in appeasing his wealthy environmental donors than helping the private sector create jobs for working families.”
On Feb. 24, Inhofe released a statement in response to the president’s veto of S.1, legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
On Jan. 29, Inhofe released a statement praising the Senate passage of S. 1, legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. The legislation passed in a vote of 62-36.
On Jan. 31, 2014, Inhofe released a statement following the State Department’s announcement that the Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change.
In January of 2014, the State Department released their Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL Project, which concluded that the Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on altering global greenhouse gas emissions.
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