Cohen: Montana Pipeline Oil Spill a Precursor to Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today said the recent pipeline oil spill in Montana is a preview for larger, more significant oil spills if the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline proposal is approved. TransCanada – which supplies some of the biggest oil companies in the world with toxic tar sands oil – is seeking State Department approval to build the Keystone XL Pipeline, a new 2,000 mile pipeline from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast in Texas. The State Department, which has authority over permitting all international pipelines, is expected to make a decision by the end of 2011.

“With the 40,000 gallon Exxon spill in the Yellowstone River, Big Oil has once again demonstrated that their safety guarantees are empty promises,” said Congressman Cohen. “No matter how state-of-the-art and safe the oil industry claims their pipelines are, the Montana catastrophe is proof positive that pipelines like Keystone XL are dangerous and pose a serious threat to our economy and environment.”

Exxon’s 40,000 gallon pipeline spill last Friday is the most recent in a string of pipeline spills that have devastated the economy and environment throughout America’s heartland. Less than one year ago, TransCanada began operating the Keystone Pipeline, the first leg of the proposed Keystone system. Despite TransCanada’s claims that Keystone is “the safest pipeline ever built” and would spill once every seven years, Keystone spilled 12 times in less than one year and was shut down because it was determined to pose an “imminent threat to life, property and the environment.”

Congressman Cohen has been a leading Congressional advocate in calling upon the State Department to ensure that the Keystone XL Pipeline is safe and will never pose an imminent threat to life, property, and the environment. In June, Congressman Cohen spearheaded a letter citing concerns about the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline. The letter was addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and was signed by 34 members of the U.S House of Representatives. This letter was a follow-up to another Congressional letter he led that urged the State Department to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement – a review of the total safety and environmental impacts of the proposed project.