Senate Engrossed

State of Arizona Senate Fifty-second Legislature First Regular Session 2015

SENATE CONCURRENT MEMORIAL 1006

 

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

 

urging the United States Congress to vote to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

To the Congress of the United States of America:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the United States relies, and will continue to rely for many years, on gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for sources of energy; and

Whereas, in order to fuel our economy, the United States will need more oil and natural gas in addition to alternative energy sources; and

Whereas, the United States currently depends on foreign imports for more than half of its petroleum usage and is the largest consumer of petroleum in the world; and

Whereas, United States dependence on overseas oil has created difficult geopolitical relationships with potentially damaging consequences for our national security; and

Whereas, oil deposits in the Bakken Reserves of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota are an increasingly important crude oil resource; and

Whereas, there is not enough pipeline capacity to deliver crude oil supplies from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas to American refineries; and

Whereas, Canadian oil reserves total 174 billion barrels, of which 169 billion barrels can be recovered from the oil sands using today's technology; and

Whereas, Canada is the single largest supplier of crude oil to the United States at 3.05 million barrels per day and has the capacity to significantly increase that rate; and

Whereas, the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline ties into the existing Keystone pipeline that already runs to Canada, bringing up to 700,000 barrels of oil a day to refineries in Texas.  At peak capacity, the pipeline will deliver 830,000 barrels of oil per day; and

Whereas, according to the United States State Department's fifth Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final SEIS), which was issued on January 31, 2014, the Keystone XL pipeline will be the safest pipeline ever constructed on American soil, will have minimal impact on the environment, will create thousands of much-needed jobs and bolster the United States' energy security; and

Whereas, according to the Final SEIS, the Keystone XL pipeline will support approximately 42,100 direct, indirect and induced jobs and result in approximately $2 billion in earnings throughout the United States; and

Whereas, the Final SEIS predicts that the Keystone XL pipeline will contribute approximately $3.4 billion to the United States gross domestic product and provide a substantial increase in tax revenues for local counties along the pipeline route, with 17 to 27 counties expected to see tax revenues increase by 10% or more; and

Whereas, the Oklahoma-Texas leg of the Keystone pipeline system, also referred to as the Gulf Coast segment, went into service in late January 2014; and

Whereas, according to a recent economic analysis report conducted by noted economist Bud Weinstein at Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business, the Gulf Coast segment injected $2.14 billion into the Oklahoma economy and more than $3.6 billion into the Texas economy; and

Whereas, a recent study by the United States Department of Energy found that increasing delivery of crude oil from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alberta, as well as Texas and Oklahoma, to American refineries has the potential to substantially reduce our country's dependency on sources outside of North America; and

Whereas, Canada sends more than 99% of its oil exports to the United States, the bulk of which goes to Midwestern refineries; and

Whereas, oil companies are investing huge sums to expand and upgrade refineries in the Midwest and elsewhere to make gasoline and other refined products from Canadian oil derived from oil sands, and the expansion and upgrade projects will create many new construction jobs over the next five years; and

Whereas, 90% of the money used to buy Canadian oil will likely later be spent directly on United States goods and services; and

Whereas, since 2011, nearly 30 public opinion polls have repeatedly confirmed that building the Keystone XL pipeline is in the best interest of the vast majority of Americans; and

Whereas, supporting the continued shift towards reliable and secure sources of North American oil is of vital interest to the United States and the State of Arizona.

Wherefore your memorialist, the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring, prays:

1.  That the United States Congress vote to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

2.  That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.