Tester votes to approve Keystone XL Pipeline, create jobs

Senator also supports keeping Keystone oil in U.S.

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester today released the following statement after voting for a bipartisan provision to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and put more Montanans to work:

“Keystone XL will create jobs and I’m disappointed Congress missed another chance to move the ball forward. This pipeline will put more Montanans to work and increase our energy security, and I’ll keep fighting to see it built – and built responsibly.”

Tester also supported a plan to require oil transported by the pipeline to be refined and sold in the United States. The proposal, which failed by a vote of 33 to 65, also required the pipeline to be built with American iron and steel.

“The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will provide high-paying private sector jobs with full healthcare and pension benefits,” said Al Ekblad, Montana AFL-CIO Executive Secretary. “It will increase the tax revenue in several struggling eastern Montana counties without any expenditure of public money, which can be used to support public education and public safety. I want to thank Senator Jon Tester for understanding the needs of Montana workers and their communities. I also want to thank him for having the courage, in the current congressional environment, to focus on job creation instead of middle class destruction.”

Tester, a long-time supporter of the Keystone XL Pipeline, specifically strengthened protections for private property in December’s bipartisan agreement that forced a decision on permitting the project. He also recently called on TransCanada to begin responsibly building sections of the pipeline in Montana.

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