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Waters Applauds President Obama’s Veto of Keystone XL Pipeline Act

February 25, 2015

Waters Applauds President Obama's Veto of Keystone XL Pipeline Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement today, applauding President Obama's veto of the Keystone XL Pipeline Act:

"I am pleased that the President swiftly vetoed legislation that would have authorized the building of the Keystone XL pipeline. The legislation would have bypassed the State Department's exclusive longstanding authority to determine whether cross-border pipelines such as Keystone serve the national interest. The bill would also have effectively exempted the Keystone pipeline from all federal permitting requirements, creating a special exemption unavailable to other construction projects. Those that supported Keystone argued that the pipeline is necessary because it would create jobs. I would remind them that rather than relying on job creation with projects like the Keystone pipeline that would be detrimental to our health and environment and only create a very limited number of jobs, tax payer dollars would be well spent on investments in our nation's infrastructure that would not only create jobs but also bring our ports, bridges, and railways into the 21st century."

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