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<H1>Congressman speaks out against Keystone</H1></DIV>
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<H2>Says pipeline would make U.S. a Canadian 'sewer'</H2></DIV>
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<DIV class=byline><SPAN class=name>By Sheldon Alberts, Postmedia
News</SPAN><SPAN class=timestamp>May 28, 2011</SPAN><SPAN
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<H1 id=photocaption>Dennis Kucinich urged U.S. officials take their time
studying the environmental impact of the Keystone XL project.</H1>
<H2 id=photocredit><B>Photograph by: </B>Yuri Gripas, Reuters, Postmedia
News</H2></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<P>A former Democratic presidential candidate has compared the diluted bitumen
from Alberta's oilsands to nuclear waste and says a proposed pipeline to Texas
would turn the United States into a "sewer" for Canadian oil.</P>
<P>The remarks from Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich highlight the increasingly
heated debate on Capitol Hill over Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.'s proposed
Keystone XL pipeline, now under review by the Obama administration.</P>
<P>Just this week, congressional Republicans -frustrated by the pace of
decision-making on the project -introduced legislation to force the State
Department to make a final ruling no later than Nov. 1.</P>
<P>But Kucinich, during a meeting this week with a travelling contingent of
First Nations leaders from Canada, appealed to Democrats to urge officials to
take their time evaluating the environmental impact of the 2,750-kilometre-long
Keystone XL project.</P>
<P>"Those of us who learn about this need to quickly let the State Department
know -slow down. What's the rush?" Kucinich said.</P>
<P>After reviewing maps showing the pipeline's proposed route -from Alberta
through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and
Texas -Kucinich said he was alarmed over the "pristine areas with fragile
ecologies that will be devastated" by the pipeline if it is built.</P>
<P>"It reminds me of maps I saw 16 years ago in the States, where they wanted to
transport nuclear waste through populated areas, and it was only an outcry on
the part of the American people, when they started to see the threat, that the
policy had to change," Kucinich said.</P>
<P>"We cannot trust the oil interests to do the right thing for the economy, for
the environment. We know that," added Kucinich, who mounted unsuccessful bids
for the White House in 2004 and 2008 and is a prominent member of his party's
liberal wing.</P>
<P>"We saw what happened when we let the oil interests get ahead of the
regulation of their industry in the Gulf of Mexico. We are not going to let them
turn the rest of North America into a sewer through the tarsands project."</P>
<P>Supporters of the Keystone XL project denounced Kucinich's remarks and said
they reflect a lack of understanding about the pipeline and the value of
oilsands to U.S. energy security.</P>
<P>"What incredibly irresponsible comments to make," said David MacLean,
vicepresident of the Alberta Enterprise Group, which this week led a trade
mission to Washington to promote oilsands development to members of
Congress.</P>
<P>The industry group met with several high-profile Republican lawmakers,
including Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources committee.</P>
<P>"Everybody understood how important, and big, the oilsands can be," said
MacLean, whose group counts TransCanada among its members.</P>
<P>"And almost universally among Hill staffers and congressmen and congressional
leaders, we found significant support for the oilsands. They see the value. They
get it."</P>
<P>The State Department, which has the authority to approve or deny the
pipeline, has set a June 6 deadline for public comments on a supplemental draft
environmental statement it conducted on the Keystone XL
proposal.</P></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV><FONT size=2>
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