AEM Applauds Keystone XL Votes
The newly-elected AEM board of directors are, from left, John Patterson, Leif Magnusson, Göran Lindgren, James Walker, Michael Haberman and Dennis Slater.
The construction industry has watched, for several years, the ongoing sage and debate over TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline.
One of the first things the new Congress took up was swift approval of the bill approving the pipeline. The U.S. House of Representatives voted last week and on Jan. 12, the U.S. Senate has advanced legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Senate voted 63-32 on Jan. 12 to clear a procedural hurdle and begin debate on the bill. A final vote is expected later this week.
Construction industry leaders have come out in support of the Senate’s action. Dennis Slater, president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), released a statement urging Obama to reconsider his “ill-conceived threat to veto the legislation that will soon be sent to him by Congress, and stop playing politics with our nation’s energy infrastructure.”
“President Obama, it’s time to stop being an obstacle to this commonsense, job-creating project,” Slater said. “[Monday’s] Senate vote shows that the debate over Keystone is over everywhere but 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Both the American public and their elected representatives resoundingly support this important piece of energy infrastructure, and any remaining legal obstacles to the pipeline’s construction fell with last week’s decision by Nebraska’s Supreme Court.”
Follow this link to read more about the Keystone XL pipeline approval process from Bradley Kramer, managing editor of North American Oil & Gas Pipelines a sister publication to Compact Equipment.
