Canada’s Ambassador to the US says the Keystone XL pipeline needs to go forward – and soon – to help establish North American energy independence.
At a Bismarck news conference, Gary Doer pointed to the latest environmental impact statement on the pipeline – and to other scientific reports that the pipeline won’t have adverse environmental effects. Doer says he hopes President Obama will soon approve it.
"We believe, as Canada, that the goalposts established by the President publicly last June, that this proposal has more than met those goalposts," said Doer.
Doer also pointed to a federal report that constructing the pipeline will create more than 40-thousand jobs – at a time when construction unemployment is around 16 percent.
"We want the President to choose blue collar workers over Hollywood celebrities, choose middle North America over the Middle East, and say 'yes' to this project," said Doer.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) says Congress has several bills ready to go to force the issue – and he says Congress is ready to pull that trigger.