Comments of support for the Keystone XL Pipeline needed by Monday, April 22, 2013

The U.S. Department of State will accept comments through Monday, April 22, 2013 on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Keystone XL Project. Comments of support for the pipeline should be submitted to keystonecomments@state.gov.

The Task Force on International Relations has concluded that ultimate approval for the pipeline is in the national interest, for the following reasons:

• The Keystone XL Pipeline is environmentally sound.  According to the Environmental Impact Statement released by the U.S. Department of State in 2011, “the Keystone XL Pipeline will have a degree of safety over any other typically constructed pipeline under current code and a degree of safety along the entire length of the pipeline system similar to that which is required in High Consequence Areas;”
• construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline would add less than 1 percent of additional pipeline to America’s current 180,000 miles of pipeline;
• transporting Canadian oil via pipeline is significantly less risky than other modes of transport, such as rail;
• Canada will continue to develop Alberta’s oil sands with or without the Keystone XL, but construction of the Keystone XL will result in thousands of American jobs;
• the Province of Alberta has proven itself a responsible steward of the environment, restoring Boreal forests to their original condition once oil sands mining operations in an area are completed; and
• the Keystone XL pipeline will also transport oil from the Bakken fields of North Dakota, facilitating the already strong economic growth there.

More information on the Keystone XL is available in the links below.

http://www.americanlegislator.org/the-keystone-xl-excuses-for-inaction-are-disappearing-fast/

http://www.americanlegislator.org/international-trip-provides-education-for-the-states/

http://www.americanlegislator.org/alberta-bound-observations-from-the-canadian-oil-sands/