Jack Gerard's remarks at press briefing teleconference on Keystone XL

As prepared for delivery

Press briefing teleconference on Keystone XL
Jack Gerard, API president and CEO
February 13, 2013

Opening statement:

Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for calling in.

Last night the president focused on the need for a growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs, saying THAT should be the North Star that guides our efforts. So my friend, Sean McGarvey, and I are once again urging the president to quickly approve the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that will not only create good middle-class jobs for thousands of the safest, most highly trained workers in the building trades, but will expand access to secure supplies of Canadian crude oil that will be processed in state-of-the-art refineries here in the U.S. It would be an investment in America’s economy and in its energy future.

The public overwhelmingly supports the project. Polling we conducted this past weekend shows that 69 percent of registered voters support building the pipeline, with strong majorities among Democrats, Republicans and Independents. What’s more, 83% believe the pipeline will strengthen our energy security and fully 92% agree jobs are important when considering the project.

So now that Nebraska has approved the new route for the pipeline in that state, the case is even stronger for a swift approval.

With national unemployment still hovering around 8 percent – and unemployment in the construction sector more than double that – getting people into these new jobs is critical.

TransCanada estimates that the full Keystone XL pipeline would create 20,000 jobs, but even more jobs would be created over the long term. According to the Canadian Energy Research Institute, the pipeline could support 117,000 new American jobs associated with oil sands development by 2035.

Further strengthening our energy partnership with Canada is a clear economic winner, as dollars going to Canada to purchase goods, including oil, are returned to our own economy by Canadians buying American goods and services. Nearly ninety cents of every dollar we spend on Canada’s oil come back to America.

The pipeline, which will be able to move more than 800,000 barrels of oil per day, also means improved U.S. energy security because of the additional oil it allows us to bring in from Canada – and added flexibility to our internal energy infrastructure by linking the oil fields of North Dakota’s Bakken Shale to refineries in the Gulf Coast.

With increased production in the United States, continued domestic biofuels production, and greater utilization of Canada’s oil sands made possible in part by Keystone XL and other necessary pipelines, all of our liquid fuels could be sourced in North America within a dozen years.

The Keystone XL project also makes sense because the homework has been done to ensure risks to the environment are minimal. This is the most thoroughly vetted major infrastructure project in the nation’s history. It has been under review for more than four years. The federal government has carefully examined the potential environmental impacts of the project three times and found no significant issues. And TransCanada has agreed to 57 special conditions above what’s required by law to ensure the highest level of safety.

There is strong public support for the Keystone XL, as other polls have shown along with this past weekend’s poll. There’s also strong support among elected officials. A bipartisan majority of U.S. Senators and a bipartisan group of 146 House members have recently written to the president calling on him to approve the project. Labor groups are also on board.

API plans to step up its efforts encouraging a favorable decision on the Keystone XL. We’ll be asking our grassroots organizations to weigh in on the issue. We’ll be advertising, making presentations at events around the country, and calling on allies and potential allies, including business and labor leaders, veterans, educators and others, to write to the president and Congress urging approval of the project.

The Keystone XL pipeline is good for America. It should be approved as soon as possible.

Thank you. Now here’s Sean McGarvey.