Tag: Keystone XL

Seven members of the Democratic National Committee have joined with environmental activists, celebrities and a group of Nobel Peace Prize winners in calling on President Obama to deny a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

The primary beneficiary of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is a company that wants to refine tar sands oil into diesel and ship it to Europe while avoiding taxes, according to a new report by Oil Change International.

Former Vice President Al Gore is publicly urging President Obama to deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing that the increased greenhouse gas production from the use of tar sands oil will only make the planet’s climate problems worse.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would require the Obama administration to make a final decision on the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline by Nov. 1. The vote was 279-147, with Colorado’s delegation voting along party lines, with one exception: Democrat Ed Perlmutter voted with Republicans in favor of the bill.

A group of Democrats in the U.S. Senate have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that the State Department extend their review of the Keystone XL pipeline project.

This week, a fracture in an Enbridge Energy pipeline released nearly a million gallons of oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River in Battle Creek, Mich. The accident is drawing attention to the obscure Department of Transportation agency responsible for the regulation and oversight of the country’s 2.3 million miles of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines: the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA.