III 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 21 

Expressing the sense of Congress that construction of the Keystone XL 

pipeline and the Federal approvals required for the construction of the 

Keystone XL pipeline are in the national interest of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2013 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. 

BEGICH, Ms. HEITKAMP, Mr. THUNE, Mr. RISCH, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. 

JOHANNS, and Mr. BARRASSO) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that construction of the 

Keystone XL pipeline and the Federal approvals required 

for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline are 

in the national interest of the United States. 

Whereas safe and responsible production, transportation, and 

use of oil and petroleum products provide the foundation 

of the energy economy of the United States, helping to 

secure and advance the economic prosperity, national security, and overall quality of life in the United States; 

Whereas the Keystone XL pipeline would provide short- and 

long-term employment opportunities and related labor inVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:59 Aug 01, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC21.IS SC21

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•SCON 21 IS 

come benefits, such as government revenues associated 

with taxes; 

Whereas the State of Nebraska has thoroughly reviewed and 

approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline reroute, 

concluding that the concerns of Nebraskans have had a 

major influence on the pipeline reroute and that the reroute will have minimal environmental impacts; 

Whereas the Department of State and other Federal agencies 

have conducted extensive studies and analysis over a long 

period of time on the technical, environmental, social, and 

economic impact of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline; 

Whereas assessments by the Department of State found that 

the Keystone XL pipeline is ‘‘not likely to impact the 

amount of crude oil produced from the oil sands’’ and 

that ‘‘approval or denial of the proposed Project is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate of development in the oil sands’’; 

Whereas the Department of State found that the incremental 

life cycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with the 

Keystone XL project are estimated in the range of 0.07 

to 0.83 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, 

with the upper end of this range representing 12⁄1,000 of 

1 percent of the 6,702,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted in the United States in 2011; 

Whereas after extensive evaluation of potential impact to land 

and water resources along the 875-mile proposed route of 

the Keystone XL pipeline, the Department of State 

found, ‘‘The analyses of potential impacts associated with 

construction and normal operation of the proposed 

Project suggest that there would be no significant impacts to most resources along the proposed Project route 


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(assuming Keystone complies with all laws and required 

conditions and measures).’’; 

Whereas the Department of State found that ‘‘[s]pills associated with the proposed Project that enter the environment are expected to be rare and relatively small’’ and 

that ‘‘there is no evidence of increased corrosion or other 

pipeline threat due to viscosity’’ of diluted bitumen oil 

that will be transported by the Keystone XL pipeline; 

Whereas, the National Research Council convened a special 

expert panel to review the risk of transporting diluted bitumen by pipeline and issued a report in June 2013 to 

the Department of Transportation in which the National 

Research Council found that existing literature indicates 

that transportation of diluted bitumen poses no increased 

risk of pipeline failure; 

Whereas plans to incorporate 57 project-specific special conditions relating to the design, construction, and operations of the Keystone XL pipeline led the Department 

of State to find that the pipeline will have ‘‘a degree of 

safety over any other typically constructed domestic oil 

pipeline’’; and 

Whereas, the Department of State found that oil destined to 

be shipped through the pipeline from the oil sands region 

of Canada and oil shale deposits in the United States 

would otherwise move by other modes of transportation 

if the Keystone XL pipeline is not built: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) construction of the Keystone XL pipeline 

2 will promote sound investment in the infrastructure 

3 of the United States; 

4 (2) construction of the Keystone XL pipeline 

5 will promote energy security in North America and 

6 will generate an increase in private sector jobs that 

7 will benefit both the region surrounding the Key8 stone XL pipeline and the United States as a whole; 

9 and 

10 (3) completion of the Keystone XL pipeline is 

11 in the national interest of the United States. 

Æ 


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