“Super Bowl media circus has nothing on this over-inflated debate” says Senator

WASHINGTON (January 29, 2015) – Now that the U.S. Senate has approved the construction of the Canadian Keystone export pipeline – which the White House has said it would veto – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today encouraged his colleagues to move forward on more pressing issues that affect middle class families and on energy policy that puts American consumers ahead of foreign oil companies.

During debate on the Keystone bill, Senate Republicans voted down several amendments made by Senator Markey. One would have ensured that the tar sands oil transported through the Keystone pipeline and products made from those fuels stay in the United States, instead of being exported abroad. Another would close the tax loophole that would allow Canadian companies to transport the tar sands oil through the pipeline without paying into a trust fund used to help pay for oil spill clean-ups. An amendment made with Tom Udall (D-N.M.) would have set a national renewable electricity standard of 25 percent by 2025. And a final amendment would have required that the Obama administration make a determination whether increased carbon pollution from tar sands oil production associated with the Keystone XL pipeline would contribute to an increase in more extreme weather events.

Below is the statement of Senator Markey, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:

“The media circus surrounding the Super Bowl has nothing on this over-inflated Senate debate on Canadian export pipeline legislation that will never be signed into law. Senate Republicans should take a page from Marshawn Lynch’s playbook and just say ‘you know why I’m here,’ which is to start off their leadership in the Senate with a meaningless tip of their cap to Big Oil.

“Hopefully now that this Keystone Kabuki theater is over, we can move on to passing legislation that will help middle class American families and make America more energy secure, instead of pushing policies that would encourage exporting more North American oil and worsen climate change.

“Go Pats.”

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