Several weeks ago, President Obama put an indefinite delay on a decision for the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline. The Senate is planning a vote to move forward with the project without presidential approval.
Cindy Schild with the American Petroleum Institute says the delay by the president is a mid-year election tactic designed to aid Democrats in November. Schild refutes one argument against the pipeline, some say the oil pulled out of Alberta sand fields is of poor quality and shouldn’t enter the US.
“The constituents in oil sands are very similar to those we refine in the US. No two oils are the same, no two crude oils, no two refineries are the same. Some are what we call heavier; some are lighter, some are sweeter. You have to meet the same standards, when it’s at a pipeline, when it’s at a refinery, the emissions, the clean air standards, the fuels you produce, are all the same. It’s all the same," Schild says.
Schild says refineries have worked with oil sands for several decades without serious incidents. US Senator Tim Johnson says he opposes the Keystone Pipeline. He says it's important for the environmental and public safety concerns be addressed first.
"While the vital decision should not be open ended, I support allowing the established process to make a determination of whether construction of the Keystone Pipeline is the nations interest. For now, I oppose it," Johnson says.
A recent Associated Press survey shows most people who responded support the Keystone XL project. However, some landowners and tribal governments remain opposed.
