Group of influential Senators calls for halt in permitting process for Keystone XL tar sands pipeline

Today, a group of influential Senators wrote to the State Department calling for a halt in the Keystone XL pipeline permitting process. Senator Whitehouse led the letter, with Senators Boxer, Cardin, Lautenberg, Leahy, Menendez, and Wyden all joining to express their concerns about the proposed pipeline and its permitting process, focusing in on pipeline safety and routing issues.

They question Secretary Clinton: “Does the [Department of State] intend to request a full safety assessment of the Keystone XL from the [Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration] before proceeding with a final environmental impact statement (FEIS)?” The tragic oil pipeline ruptures into the Kalamazoo River last year, and into the Yellowstone River earlier this month should make it clear that conducting assessments about pipeline safety and diluted bitumen – the corrosive substance that would be pumped through Keystone XL from the tar sands – is an incredibly reasonable request.

Keystone XL would have the capacity to pump up to 900,000 barrels per day of tar sands from Alberta, Canada over 2000 miles to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Like the Exxon pipeline that ruptured, it would cross beneath the Yellowstone River. And TransCanada hopes to build the pipeline right over – and in some places through – the Ogallala Aquifer, which millions of Americans rely on for their drinking and irrigation water. In numerous written and verbal statements and letters, Nebraska Senators Nelson and Johanns have declared that building a tar sands pipeline through the Nebraska Sandhills and Ogallala Aquifer is simply too risky. Confirming their concerns, Dr. John Stansbury, an engineering professor at the University of Nebraska, released a report earlier this week which indicated that a spill from the Keystone XL pipeline into the Ogallala Aquifer could contaminate as much as 5 billion gallons of groundwater. A large spill into the Yellowstone River could release as much as 5 million gallons of tar sands crude – over a hundred times what the Exxon pipeline spilled.

Despite these unaddressed risks, the State Department has indicated that they plan to make a decision by the end of the year about the pipeline. Representative Lee Terry of Nebraska has decided to side with the oil companies over the people of Nebraska, and is trying to rush the process even more. He introduced H.R. 1938, which would force a decision about Keystone XL by November 1, cutting short both the environmental review and the National Interest Determination process. The bill has passed through the Energy and Commerce Committee and is likely to come to the House floor for a vote next week. NRDC and forty other groups sent a letter to the House of Representatives on Tuesday asking Members of Congress to oppose the legislation. The groups signed on to the letter include not only national and local environmental groups, but also farmer and landowner groups. The letter concludes:

At a time when we must find ways to end our dependence on fossil fuels, deepening our reliance on the dirtiest form of oil on the planet is simply not in the national interest. We believe that conducting the appropriate analysis under NEPA – which cannot be done properly if rushed – will make this clear. For all of these reasons we urge to you oppose H.R. 1938.

We hope that the letter just sent by the Senators will not only encourage the State Department to do the necessary analysis, but will also help to make it clear to Members of the House of Representatives why rushing the decision-making process for Keystone XL is a bad bet. To help stop the Keystone XL pipeline, visit www.stoptar.org and tell Secretary Clinton that dirty tar sands oil is the wrong direction for the United States.

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