Senate Disappoints on Keystone XL Vote

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Senate today advanced a Keystone XL pipeline bill that puts corporate oil interests before the health of the public and the environment, EWG said in a statement. 

The bill, which passed 62-36, would allow construction of a 1,179 pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska.  It would pump millions of tons of greenhouse gases and toxic air pollutants into the atmosphere.

EWG Executive Director Heather White said:

We are deeply disappointed the Senate has passed this legislation, which would have profound impacts on our air, water and ultimately, our health. As our 2013 investigation of the Mayflower tar sands oil spill shows, a similar spill from the Keystone XL pipeline could contaminate drinking water and agricultural land with toxic chemicals.

What’s even more disappointing is that the Senate also failed to approve a proposal offered by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D- N.Y., that would have removed the Safe Water Drinking Act loophole. Her measure would have required fracking and natural gas storage companies to comply with clean water laws. This Keystone vote is the first shot across the bow as the most anti-environmental Congress in decades begins its attack on important federal environmental laws. President Obama has vowed to veto the Keystone XL pipeline legislation.  We will hold him to that promise and continue the fight for the environment and public health.  

It is time for a national energy policy that invests in our future, not our past. We owe it to our kids to create a cleaner future that supports renewable energy alternatives, not dirty tar sands oils.

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