WASHINGTON – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wants her Democratic colleagues to vote
against authorizing the Keystone XL Pipeline when it comes up for a vote as early as Friday
“If you were one hundred percent for Keystone Pipeline, you would have to have a problem with the
legislation on the floor,” Pelosi said to reporters at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
The reason, she says, has to do with something called dilbit.
Dilbit is a bitumen (a type of thick and viscous petroleum) that has been diluted with lighter petroleum
products so it’s thin enough to transport.
Pelosi says her dilbit dilemma stems from the fact that TransCanada, the company behind the
pipeline, would be exempt from paying into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which helps pay for
oil spill cleanup. TransCanada argues that the dilbit that it would transport through the pipeline is not
technically oil.
In 2010, a pipeline bearing dilbit burst and the petroleum product spilled into a tributary of the
Kalamazoo River in Michigan. Cleanup was slowed by the fact that unlike conventional oil, the dilbit
sank to the bottom of the water column. It wasn’t until last month that all sections of the river reopened
for public use. The price of the cleanup totaled over $1.2 billion, according to Enbridge, the Canadian
company that transported the dilbit.
Pelosi echoed environmentalists’ concerns that dilbit is more dangerous than conventional oil, as well
as more corrosive, and therefore more likely to cause a spill.
The petroleum industry denies these charges. A statement on TransCanada’s website reads: “Several
studies have shown that there is no difference in safety or risk for pipelines carrying bitumen-derived
crude oil compared to traditional, lighter crude oils.”
Pelosi says that she’s concerned that multiple oil spills could deplete the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund..
House Republicans have put Keystone forward as an opportunity for Democrats to demonstrate
cooperation. In the Senate, where a vote could come next week, Democrats are not likely to face
immediate political fallout for supporting the pipeline legislation. For Sen. Mary Landrieu, who is
facing a December runoff election in Louisiana, pushing the pipeline through Congress would be a
ay of distancing herself from President Barack Obama, who has put the issue in Congress’ hands be
declining to approve the project himself.
Landrieu, D-La. spoke about Keystone on the Senate floor for nearly three hours on Wednesday.
“I’m going to do everything in my power here and at home on the campaign trail, where I’m still in a
runoff, as you know, to get this project moving forward,” she said.
The Keystone pipeline currently runs from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Nebraska, Illinois and
Texas. The proposed XL pipeline would measure three feet in diameter, nearly 1,200 miles in length
and run through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
The House is expected to take up a vote on Keystone Friday, for the ninth time in the past six years.