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S. C. R. No. 7 As Enrolled
(130th General Assembly)
(Senate Concurrent Resolution Number 7)
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To urge the United States Department of State to
approve the presidential permit application
allowing the construction and operation of the
TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline between the
United States and Canada.
Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Ohio (The House of Representatives concurring):
WHEREAS, The United States accounts for 20% of world energy
consumption and is the world's largest petroleum consumer,
consuming 15 million barrels of oil each day, and these amounts
are not forecasted to change for decades; and
WHEREAS, Current oil imports amount to over 8 million barrels
each day, approximately 50% of the United States' requirements;
and
WHEREAS, The United States will remain dependent on imported
energy for decades regardless of new technology, oil discoveries,
alternative fuels, and conservation efforts; and
WHEREAS, A secure supply of crude oil is needed by Americans
for heating their homes, cooking their food, and fueling their
vehicles, and to allow the United States economy to thrive and be
freed from the potential threats and disruptions of the crude oil
supply from less secure parts of the world; and
WHEREAS, The growing production of conflict-free oil from the
Canadian oil sands and the Bakken formation in Saskatchewan,
Montana, and North Dakota can replace crude oil imported from
countries that do not share American values and therefore
additional pipeline capacity to refineries in the United States
Midwest and Gulf Coast regions is required; and
WHEREAS, Increasing energy imports from Canada makes sense
for the United States because Canada is a trusted neighbor with a
stable democratic government, strong environmental standards equal
to that of the United States, and some of the most stringent human
rights and worker protection laws in the world; and
WHEREAS, Improvements in production technology continue to
reduce the carbon footprint of Canadian oil sands development; and
WHEREAS, Oil sands production accounts for 6.5% of Canada's
greenhouse gas emissions and 0.1% of global greenhouse gas
emissions, and total emissions from Canada's oil sands sector was
45 megatons in 2009 which is equivalent to 3.5% of emissions from
United States coal fired power generation in the same year,
despite oil sands crude having similar carbon dioxide emissions to
other heavy oils and being 6% more carbon-intensive than the
United States crude supply average on a wells-to-wheels basis; and
WHEREAS, The 58 refineries in the Gulf Coast region provide a
total refining capacity of approximately 8.4 million barrels per
day, or nearly half of the United States' refining capacity; and
WHEREAS, In 2009, Gulf Coast region refineries imported
approximately 5 million barrels per day of crude oil from more
than 40 countries with 21% coming from Mexico, 17% from Venezuela,
12% from Saudi Arabia, and 11% from Nigeria; and
WHEREAS, Crude oil imports from Mexico and Venezuela are
declining as production from those countries decreases and supply
contracts expire; and
WHEREAS, Once completed, the TransCanada's Keystone XL and
Gulf Coast Pipeline Projects could displace roughly 40% of the oil
the United States currently imports from the Middle East and
Venezuela; and
WHEREAS, The Keystone XL Pipeline Project has been subject to
the most thorough public consultation process of any proposed
United States pipeline and the subject of multiple environmental
impact statements and several United States Department of State
studies that have concluded that the Pipeline poses the least
impact to the environment as compared to, and is much safer than,
other modes of transporting crude oil; and
WHEREAS, Pipelines are the safest method for the
transportation of petroleum products when compared to other
methods of transportation - for example, transporting by pipeline
is 100 times safer than transporting by truck and 40 times safer
than transporting by rail; and
WHEREAS, The Keystone XL Pipeline will replace the hauling
capacity of a tanker train that is 25 miles long or 200 ocean
tankers per year thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as
much as 19 million tons, which is the equivalent of taking almost
4 million cars off the road; and
WHEREAS, The Keystone XL Pipeline Project will support over
10,000 jobs in United States construction and manufacturing
industries such as pipefitting, welding, electrical, heavy
equipment operating, and other sectors in virtually every state in
the United States; and
WHEREAS, 75% of the pipe used to build the Keystone XL
Pipeline in the United States will come from North American mills,
including half made by workers in the United States, and goods for
the pipeline valued at approximately $800 million have already
been sourced from manufacturers in the United States; now
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the Ohio Senate of the
130th General Assembly, respectfully urge the United States
Department of State to approve the presidential permit application
allowing the construction and operation of the TransCanada
Keystone XL Pipeline between the United States and Canada in order
to strengthen the United States' energy security, provide for
critical pipeline infrastructure to achieve North American energy
independence, and to stimulate the economy and create jobs; and be
it further
RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly
authenticated copies of this resolution to the Secretary of State
of the United States, the President of the United States, the
Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives,
the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States
Senate, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, and the
news media of Ohio.
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