The oil-drenched Senate, bought and paid for

Published on Saturday, March 16, 2013 by Common Dreams

Big Oil Attempts to End-Run Keystone XL with Congressional Approval

"Just once, we wish these Senators would break the trend and listen to the thousands upon thousands standing up against this pipeline, instead of the Big Oil benefactors lining their campaign war chests." - Lauren McCauley, staff writer

The oil industry is planning an end-run around the President and State Department as they linger over the impending decision on whether to authorize the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by pushing for Big Oil friendly Congressional approval of the project.

On Thursday, Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) introduced a bill which authorizes Transcanada Corp. to construct the pipeline, opening up more than 800,000 barrels a day of heavily polluting tar sands oil.

The announcement of the bill reads: "The senators’ bill would approve the 1,700-mile, high-tech project under Congress’s authority enumerated in the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8."

Reportedly, Hoeven last year secured an opinion from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) confirming Congress’s constitutional authority to approve the project.

According to Oil Change International, "the co-sponsors of this new bill have enjoyed massive contributions from the fossil fuel industry through their careers." According to their Dirty Energy Money database:

• In total, the 14 Senators who have co-sponsored this bill have received nearly $10 MILLION in contributions from the fossil fuel industry, some $6.6 million of that from the oil industry alone.
• On average, the 14 co-sponsors have received over $708,000 each from the fossil fuel industry in their career, over half of that from the oil industry.
• Compared to the rest of the Senate, the co-sponsors of today’s pro-KeystoneXL bill have received 227% more in fossil fuel-related campaign contributions on average than their counterparts.

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