Multi-state coalition petitions Kerry to expand Keystone Pipeline

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) - Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange announced Monday that he joined 20 other attorneys general in a petition asking U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to expand the Keystone Pipeline oil project.

The attorneys general asked Kerry to recommend a permit for the expansion of the project, which would transport oil from Canada to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico region of the U.S. The State Department is now reviewing an application for a presidential permit for Keystone XL, an expansion of the current Keystone Pipeline.

"The project, when approved, will bolster the nation's economy, modernize the country's energy infrastructure, and strengthen our national security," the attorneys general said. "The pipeline will significantly serve our national energy needs by providing primary transportation for the development of Canadian oil reserves. It will also facilitate the safe transport of oil from the burgeoning Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana. Each attribute will add to the country's energy independence and to the economy of the entire midsection of this nation."

In the petition, the attorneys general gave facts in support of expanding the pipeline. According to the authors, 36 percent of the oil imported by the U.S. comes from politically unstable countries that may or do have anti-American or anti-democratic agendas. The attorneys general also said the expansion would create jobs and increase the sales of American services and goods.

Other state attorneys general included in the petition were officials from Virginia, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana, Louisiana, West Virginia, Utah, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, Indiana, Georgia, Colorado, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho, Florida, Arizona and North Dakota.