Washington (January 24, 2012) – Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee released the following statement in reaction to the Republican response delivered by Governor Mitch Daniels to tonight’s State of the Union address.

“Governor Daniels is wrong on pipeline safety. The Keystone pipeline, less than two years old, has already experienced a dozen oil spills, including a 21,000 gallon spill in North Dakota.

“The owner of the pipeline, the Canadian company TransCanada, and their contractor Bechtel have been accused of cutting corners and fudging safety tests.

“Since TransCanada has already shown it has trouble operating their original pipeline safely, we should think twice before allowing them to supersize it by extending it all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.

“If Republican leaders had their way, America would take all the risk of moving dirty tar sands oil so that that under their proposal Transcanda and their partners can turn around and export the refined product.  When I asked the head of TransCanada at a hearing last year to commit to keeping the oil from this pipeline in the U.S., he refused.  That speaks volumes about what this proposal actually means for reducing U.S. imports from the Persian Gulf.”

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