US groups API, NPRA praise House passage of bill seeking Keystone XL Pipeline decision
The American Petroleum Institute (API) and National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) each issued statements of support after the US House of Representatives passed the North American-Made Energy Act, which seeks to speed up the permitting process for the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline.
The Keystone XL Pipeline would transport Canadian oil to the US Gulf coast. The bill would require the Obama administration to decide on the bill by Nov. 1.
"Projects that will create American jobs through the use of Keystone XL are ready to go, but the slow approval process is denying thousands of Americans new paychecks," said API executive vice president Marty Durbin.
Durbin was referring to a report by the Canadian Economic Research Institute (CERI) that 10,000 US jobs will not be created in 2012 because the pipeline has not been built.
That number jumps to 45,000 in 2015 and close to 85,000 jobs in 2020, he said.
"The House bill requiring the administration to make a decision about the Keystone XL Pipeline by November 1 makes sense," Durbin said. "The project has undergone extensive analysis and review and it is time to move forward so that we can create jobs and further strengthen our relationship with America’s number one trading partner and largest source of imported oil, Canada."
"The shovel-ready project will immediately generate 20,000 new US jobs, and investing in Canadian oil will support 600,000 Americans jobs by 2035," Durbin said, citing the CERI report.
"Adding Canada’s oil sands resources to US reserves, North America is now the strongest growing non-OPEC region for oil production," said Durbin. "It’s puzzling, therefore to see our government urging OPEC to produce more crude and tapping our emergency supply from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve while delaying this critical pipeline."
Durbin thanked US Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) for bipartisan support .
NPRA president Charles T. Drevna echoed that assessment, noting that China would take advantage of Canadian oil availability if the US does not.
“If America turns its back on Canadian oil, China will eagerly buy this precious resource, forcing our nation to turn to countries on the other side of the world for the energy needed to keep our economy running.,” Drevna said.
“The Senate should join the bipartisan majority in the House that voted to approve this legislation to strengthen America’s economic and national security.”
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