Transportation Bill Will Not Be Held Hostage To Keystone XL

On June 27th, Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Jim Inhofe confirmed that language trumping EPA coal ash regulations and the Keystone XL pipeline rider will be dropped from the final transportation deal.

House Republicans had brought language into the talks authorizing the northern leg of the Keystone pipeline — extending from the Montana-Canada border to Steele City, Nebraska. This represents a huge win for the environment as well as the agricultural economy of Nebraska. The pipeline, if ever approved, will travel through the sand hills, an environmentally sensitive region in Nebraska sitting atop the Ogalalla Aquifer. Thank you so much to those of you who wrote or visited congress or wrote to your local papers.

As an added bonus, the final deal is expected to include the RESTORE Act which will allocate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines tied to the Gulf of Mexico spill toward Gulf Coast restoration.

Please see the official Democratic Party Keystone XL pipeline resolution here.