Presented at the Department of State Hearing in Lincoln, NE on September 27, 2011.

1. STATEMENT OF JOE KIELY, VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS
PORTS‐TO‐PLAINS ALLIANCE
BEFORE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
PUBLIC HEARING ON
FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE PROPOSED KEYSTONE XL PROJECT
LINCOLN, NE
SEPTEMBER 27, 2011
I am Joe Kiely, Vice President of Operations for the Ports‐to‐Plains Alliance. The Ports‐to‐Plains Alliance
is a grass roots coalition of over 120 cities, counties, businesses, economic development organizations
and chambers of commerce from a ten‐state, 2,300 mile long transportation and economic
development corridor that runs from Texas to Alberta, Canada. The Keystone XL pipeline is proposed to
go through our region, and our members are most likely to be impacted by any positive and negative
impacts.
Keystone XL will provide significant economic benefits for our region. The pipeline is expected to create
approximately 20,000 manufacturing and construction jobs in the United States. This is particularly
important for the rural heartland of America, where we have seen population declines of the past few
decades. During construction the pipeline will prove governments within the Ports‐to‐Plains region
$122.3 million in tax revenues. It could also generate more than $5.2 billion to local governments in tax
revenue to the Keystone XL corridor states over the life of the pipeline. At a time when state and local
governments across the country are struggling to balance their budgets, these employment and revenue
benefits are critical to our region.
As leaders from the region that the Keystone XL pipeline with traverse, we applaud the Department of
State’s thoroughness during this approval process and appreciate the multiple opportunities for public
input on the project and its potential impact on the environment. The State Department has fully
analyzed the project’s environmental impact and that the Final EIS rightfully concludes that there are no
substantial environmental concerns that should prevent construction of this valuable energy
infrastructure project. We also have confidence that TransCanada will be a good steward of the land
and that Keystone XL will be constructed using industry best practices and will meet or exceed all
existing pipeline regulatory standards.
We are particularly concerned about the potential impact on the Ogallala Aquifer, which is a major
source of drinking water, as well as a crucial part of our agriculture‐based economies. During the State
Department’s review, it assessed several spill scenarios and potential impacts to the aquifer and
concluded in the Final Environmental Impact Statement that “in no spill incident scenario would the
entire Northern High Plains Aquifer system by adversely affected.” Moreover, in response to concerns
about the Ogallala Aquifer, the State Department examined five alternative pipeline routes to avoid or
minimize the length over the aquifer. Yet, it determined that these different routes would “disturb more
land and cross more water bodies than the proposed route.”

2.
The pipeline is also critical to our country’s efforts to reduce our dependence on Middle East and
Venezuelan oil, by increasing our access to supplies from Canada, our neighbor and loyal ally, as well as
domestic supplies from the Bakken Formation of Montana and North Dakota. Relying upon regimes that
are in many cases unstable and unfriendly to the United States is simply bad energy and national
security policy. We have seen the shocks to our economy from oil spikes caused by turmoil in these
regions. It is much preferable to develop stable, secure domestic and Canadian sources. By providing
refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast with more than 700,000 barrels of oil each day from domestic and
Canadian resources, this pipeline will dramatically reduce our reliance on oil from unreliable and often
unfriendly sources.
The pipeline will displace about half of the oil that the United States currently imports from the Middle
East. By decreasing the U.S. reliance on these Middle Eastern imports, the United States has a greater
capacity to pursue a foreign policy that is not subject to the whims of oil producers in the Persian Gulf.
As the world’s largest trading relationship, Canada and the United States have developed the
infrastructure and policies necessary to ensure the security and efficiency of these exchanges of goods
and services. This trading partnership has led to strong political cooperation for these two Western
democracies. Any scenario in which Canada would prohibit the export of crude to the United States for
political reason is highly unlikely. Other nations, however, have turned off the spigot to the United
States and other countries in a hostile move that once caused significant damage to the U.S. economy
and left U.S. security forces without a reliable supply of fuel. In the words of Energy Secretary Steven
Chu, “having Canada as a supplier for our oil is much more comforting than to have other countries
supply our oil.”
The Keystone XL pipeline is clearly in the nation’s interest and will a valuable tool in strengthening our
national security and energy security. Therefore, we respectfully request that upon completion of this
review period, the Department of State move expeditiously to approve the pipeline and grant
TransCanada the Presidential Permit it needs to proceed.