it's keystone. >> keystone's very important. isn't that right, many mallino? >> well, i'm not in opposition that keystone is very important, all right? but i don't want to see the process short circuited by the actions of this committee ander into fear with -- interfere with this bill that's before us. >> well, i really appreciate you raising the issue, mr. rush, and, you know, we're very sensitive to your concerns. and i know that you and mr. waxman have written a number of letters, and we have a lot of issues to visit together. so thank you, and once again i want to thank the members of the panel for being with us today. we appreciate all of your testimony and your responding to our questions. and we'll keep the record open for ten days in the event some additional material that someone may want to offer. and with that we'll conclude today's hearing and thank you once again. today's hearing is concluded. [inaudible conversations] >> this morning on c-span2, senate floor debate on the firearms bill with senators murphy and blumenthal of connecticut and senato

>> is a keystone. but rather -- for whatever reason the president was to do it, there have been large bipartisan votes in support. it is not a bipartisan issue. these aren't traditional republican groups. because youk you talked about your testimony what the lazy to jobs in america, if you could expand on that. we have heard of businesses that either closed down or delayed operations. not even canadian businesses. american businesses are being hurt every day by inaction of the president. can you expand on that and give us some examples? >> as i mentioned in my testimony we have been blessed to expand to other parts of the world that we have not been selling to previously. i know that some of our -- some of the big players in the pipeline industry and labor, even though they are still high demand, it is definitely scaled back because of delays in cancellations -- delays and cancellations of a lot of these products. >> there is no reason for those jobs be lost. we could have them today as i mentioned ear

keystone already exists. one of the issues you have to deal with is i think this is an important point that you have to take on keystone because it's a symbol, an important one. that shouldn't be lost. what should be remembered are the truths about canadian oil sands. they are coming into the country already. they will continue to come into the country. >> i think very simply, here's what the truth is, the truth is the president of the united states, the congress and the american people have got to say this is it. not only do we not want a keystone xl pipeline, but we have got to fundamentally transform our energy system away from coil, away from oil, and into energy and energy efficiency. people talk about economics. we're fighting for the future of the planet. we're talking about more and more sandies and irenes, which cost huge amounts of money in terms of rebuilding those communities, not to mention the future disasters that we'll see. >> yet, here strikes me as the problem. on march 22nd, a symbolic vote

in keystone, we have a solution in hand. we have a solution that is in full accord with our economic, our social, and our environmental values. it's a matter of putting facts into the dialogue and letting them speak for themselves. there's information that's available to people who want to understand the choices that we need to make in our life. the choices that we need to make in order to continue to have the quality of life that has led to our success over the past 50 years. so as we move ahead, i look forward to the question and answer session. i look forward to the dialogue. at the end of the day, we have opportunity to change the conversation, and i look forward to having that with you. thank you. >> bear with us just for a couple of minutes while dr. yergin and i get miked. our format will be we will begin the conversation with the premier and then we'll move it to the audience. i think you have cards. you can submit your questions in writing. we'll try to get as many of them answered as we have time for until around 3

what was the status of the keystone x.l. pipeline was the legal regulatory you know i know they're taking they're using the fifth amendment take land on taxes of it what's going on well right now the keystone the northern route of the keystone x.l. pipeline is going through an environmental review process and i think it's important to note we're still very early on in that process the state department issued a draft environmental impact statement there were some good things in it and there were a lot of bad things in it we you know and i know bill can talk to the major climate emissions the keystone x.l. it's expected to drive industry analysts say that keystone x.l. is the linchpin for tar sands expansion and the other side of this is if i may interrupt you there i understand when the state department issued this report that one of the contractors they relied on heavily to write the report had actually had financial ties to trans canada or the keystone pipeline or something some can do you know about that and that also has

we've seen keystone pipeline is through america not to america.be exported out of the country. the united states does not need this oil and its support from overwhelming support from americans for solutions like the new vehicle efficientcy standards that the obama administration just finalized we don't need this oil. some of the polling that our side has done shows that when americans are educated just a little bit with the few talking points on how disastrous the impact of tar sands can be, they switch sides and oppose keystone excel. >> cenk: when you look at the vote that happened on friday. this is a symbolic vote. the president will get to decide but in the senate they supported 62-37 in favor of keystone pipeline as well. is this an indication of which way the president will go when he sees the poll numbers and the senate vote, will he approve keystone pipeline? >> well, i certainly hope not. i think the president has a real opportunity to inspire a generation who wants him to take action on climate change like he committed to doing and reje

supporters say building the keystone extension will create jobs. tonight in sea cliff, though, some residents are just happy to hear the president is in town. >> i think it's wonderful. >> reporter: and back live here in sea cliff, as a lot of residents -- they can't even get into their house at this hour, as everyone here is awaiting the president's arrival. again, he is expected here in the neighborhood in the 6:00 hour. >>> the defense secretary chuck hagel said that north korea's nuclear threats present a real and clear danger. kim jong un is vowing to build a nuclear weapon. some analysts call the threats empty, but speaking at an national defense university today, chuck hagel said he wasn't willing to take that chance. >> it only takes being wrong once, and i don't want to be the secretary of defense who was wrong once. >> north korea has threatened to launch attacks against the united states. the u.s. has sent fighter jets and warships to the korean peninsula. >>> children from around the nation will dine with first lady michelle obama at th

statement is a big black eye for the state department and a big blow to the keystone x.l. pipeline the e.p.a. basically reaffirmed was environmental groups and scientists have been saying for a long time the diff pipeline is dangerous because it's guaranteed to spill over some of america's richest farmland and most important freshwater it will cause massive amounts of pollution in the refinery communities which are already bearing the brunt of the fossil fuel industry is dirty energy and third that it will have a big impact on our climate the state department's been trying to argue that it doesn't matter whether whether or not we build that pipeline that that tar sands will be developed anyways e.p.a. went back and said look that isn't true this pipeline is a critical piece of infrastructure and if it's built it will have a big negative impact on our climate and sea jamie so you mentioned water what impact could this crude have on the waterways you know how is it going to a fact this valuable asset and others as it travels down. well we've seen a little bit of that in mayf

supporters say building the keystone extension will create jobs. tonight in sea cliff, though, some residents are just happy to hear the president is in town. >> i think it's wonderful. >> reporter: and back live here in sea cliff, as a lot of residents -- they can't even get into their house at this hour, as everyone here is awaiting the president's arrival. again, he is expected here in the neighborhood in the 6:00 hour. >>> the defense secretary chuck hagel said that north korea's nuclear threats present a real and clear danger. kim jong un is vowing to build a nuclear weapon. some analysts call the threats empty, but speaking at an national defense university today, chuck hagel said he wasn't willing to take that chance. >> it only takes being wrong once, and i don't want to be the secretary of defense who was wrong once. >> north korea has threatened to launch attacks against the united states. the u.s. has sent fighter jets and warships to the korean peninsula. >>> children from around the nation will dine with first lady michelle obama at th

you take a look at pegasus and keystone x.l . pegasus is a pipeline a tenth of the capacity of keystone x.l . you build keystone kp +*l you have a ten times more significant risk? f there is a spill and what is the benefit to the u.s. public? you're dealing with a low-quality crude that increases climate emissions well above conventional crude, has increased risk to u.s. water bodies and communities and is meant to go through the u.s. in order to bring tar sands to gulf coast refineries which are now exports over three million barrels a day of refined products. >> woodruff: so he's making the argument against the keystone x.l. pipeline -- or expanding it. >> we have not reached the goal yet of zero pipeline accidents. the industry works hard for that. the safety record has improved. over the last ten years the number of accidents per miles of pipe has dropped 60%. the industry spent 1.1 billion dollars in just 2011 on this. it continues to work everyday on this. >> woodruff: making safer pipelines? working on the oil? how? how ar

the first keystone pipeline they built spilled 12 times in 12 months.e didn't know about pegasus that spilled in arkansas, it's one-tenth the size of the keystone xl. if it was keystone xl it would not an river of oil running down the street but a niagara of oil spilling down the street. this is a folly to put a huge pop line over the aquifer. we're just asking for trouble. >> john: why are we having more of these pipeline spills than ever. this is the third in the past two years. >> there are a couple of things going on here. obviously we pay a lot more attention now to these kinds of things. at least people outside of the industry do since the blow out of the bp well, and the 5 million barrels of oil that spilled into the gulf. so people are much more attuned to these kinds of issues. we're producing more and more oil through some of these the the new horizontal wells domestically. so we're moving more oil domesticcally from wells to refineries and back throughout the u.s. >> john: do you think this spill will have an impact on the president's decisio

of operation the company of course says the new keystone x.l. will be so much better but people know from experience how devastating consequences of an oil spill can be and how hard it is to clean up this is certainly not the first incident of course everyone remembers the disaster in the gulf of mexico in twenty ten when after an explosion and he had been leaking oil on the ocean floor for several months before the well was capped an estimated four point nine million barrels of oil had leaked into the gulf that three years later the gulf is still not free in july two thousand and ten a pipeline brought church speed more than twenty thousand barrels of canadian tar sands crude oil into the michigan waterway so this happens all the time just last week the government suggests that exxon. mobil paid a fine of one point seven million dollars over pipeline safety violations and that was for an oil spill two years ago in the yellowstone river in montana exxon has a month to contest the violations many believe that the world trying to get away with vio

gerri: engame in sight for keystone pipeline. for public comments tread on the project that delivers oils from canada's tar sands down to the gulf coast, and it now comes down to the president's decision. canadian minister of natural resources, joe al veer -- oliver, has the latest. great to have you here on set. >> thank you. gerri: i keep thinking we are closer 20 a decision on keystone, but, actually, we now are getting close, maybe this summer. you say you're getting a warm reception this visit? >> depends, actually, who i talk to, but, yes, look, i think that people understand that this will be very positive for both our countries. that's why there's so many support in the united states, majority of the american population, all l governors to whom states the pipeline will go in favor, majority of the senate, majority of the house of representatives, but we still have a number of, you know, regulatory hurdles, and, ultimately, it's the president's decision. gerri: you have a ferocious group of environmentalists, greenies, who

spewing tar sand all across this all across the city yet big oil won't want to build another the keystone x.l. pipeline putting millions of americans at risk is this risk worth the reward also guns on school campus the n.r.a. has announced their school safety proposal that includes arming and training school staff will these measures make our schools safer or will they make our teachers and students more at risk and this past december michigan state legislature passed a law passed a law making a right to work making making michigan a right to work state and now they're back at it trying to pass a law that will strip unions of their exclusivity rights which means attacks against the middle class and working class and what is it going to stop. so tonight we kick things off with our tuesday politics panel joining us tonight are patrick hedger policy analyst with freedom works and neil mckay conservative commentator editor the guns and patriots newsletter welcome gentlemen all right let's get started richard just mentioned we've got oil covered ducks being recovered now in arkansas twenty two

is there let's go to this issue of the keystone pipeline.want this a little bit of the symbol of this larger conversation that i think you're trying to start when it comes to energy. the president has made this emphasis on it's all about getting energy independent, no matter what it takes. and that the keystone pipeline may or may not be a part of that. he himself seems to be on the fence of whether that's a part of that. what should be the line on environmental concerns versus independence? >> well, i think that climate and energy are the most important generational challenge that we face today and i think that our generation -- i'm 55 years old -- is going to be judged by how well we respond to it. so when i look at the issue, i ask myself, are we in fact going to take a view where we protect ourselves, where we protect our economy and we protect the future of our kids and grandkids? or are we going to do something that's got a very short-interpret payback? so when i look at the keystone pipeline, it is a 40-year investment in bringing ver

pipeline the keystone x.l. pipeline would carry eight hundred thousand barrels per day just to compare the pipe that leaked in arkansas can carry around ninety thousand barrels a day so the consequences of a leak could be devastating the keystone pipeline would also carry canadian heavy crudes to us we're finally seeing the self the project doesn't have the final green light from the administration just yet but the oil giants involved are pushing the administration very hard to go ahead with that saying it will bring down fuel costs in the u.s. trans canada is first keystone line in the u.s. spilled the diesel a dozen times just in its first year of operation the company of course says the new keystone x.l. will be so much better but people know from experience how devastating consequences of an oil spill can be and how hard it is to clean up this is certainly not the first incident of course everyone remembers the disaster in the gulf of mexico in twenty ten when after an explosion and he had been leaking oil

the fight over keystone has been all politics.ponents of the pipeline argue the project will create thousands of new jobs in a time of economic uncertainty. specifically according to state department estimates, 3900 temporary jobs, and exactly 35 permanent jobs. but even the jobs numbers are in dispute. outside estimates range as low as 500 and as high as 250,000 jobs created. meanwhile, opponents of the pipeline, like climate activist, bill mckicken, say approving the project would be akin to lighting a carbon bomb. causing irreparable harm to the environment. this weekend obama's superpack adviser bill burton launched a campaign urging rejection of the pipeline. >> it's time to connect the dots about the keystone excel pipeline. oil spills, it's not if, it's when. it's happened before and now again. keystone excel doesn't go to the u.s., it goes through the u.s. sending oil to places like china and venezuela. putting us at risk while big oil gets the rewards. connect the dots, it's a pretty ugly picture. keystone xl, all risk, n

xl pipeline, i knew spill could put the kaj bosch on keystone.risk to health to help the people that live near it due to the food and fumes fuel to the fire and the critics could be a huge obacle for the keystone xl pipeline. our next guest has been fighting transcanada in court over the keystone project, not necessarily on the environmental issues, but as it encroaches on our farm. manager at the red arc farm, and we welcome you back to the show. good to me to. let me just get straight to the issue. as we watch this oil pipeline spill and arkansas, this a very 10,000 gallons of oil already. exxon is saying the airplane that 12,000 gallons of oil and water. are the environmental concerns because of something like this going to help your cause to stop keystone comedy think? >> is certainly has fuelled some more discussion. since friday my phone has been ringing off the hook, e-mails to our saying they're starting to get it, that this is what can happen, particularly with every purpose pipeline, which is what the pegasus is. adam: this is a pipelin

agree on all the risk is so keystone creation you know the argument was for domestic oil prices going down could we see domestic oil prices in fact rise even with keystones creation is that a possibility. yes that's exactly right the interesting thing about keystone is it's mostly for export that's why they're so desperate to get this oil down to the gulf of mexico so they can sell it overseas and what that will do is drive up the price of oil all along the pipeline route including in the midwest where a lot of oil is where so you're exactly right people in the midwest could actually see their gas prices go up if that was built rather than go down so this argument that it's good for gas prices or good for energy security is completely bogus it's good for neither so it's keystone of really going to impact our dependence on foreign oil do you think well if anything it keeps us hooked on oil instead of really putting money towards the types of solutions that could get us off oil and really solve that problem like this oil is designed to go to the international market and the price of oil

the keystone pipeline is a no-brainer. in fact it's entirely thoughtless hah another round of oil spills prove it. i'm michael shure. this is "the war room." [♪ theme music ♪] >> michael: ts elliott calls it the cruellest month and perhaps he was right. april comes in promising spring but more often just brings rainy weather and worse like exploding oil pipelines and run away freight trains. first pipelines in arkansas and minnesota burst last week, blanketing entire neighborhoods in crude oil. exxon mobil initially claimed just a few thousand barrels of oil spilled but it turned out to be more like 10,000. >> i mean look. incredible. and that is oil. >> michael: it's just unbelievable when you look at that. and that's not the only spill that happened last week either. this minnesota a train carrying tar sands oil was going 150 miles an hour when it derailed and spilled oil. these spills are happening again and again. there have been 102 in just the last ten years. and the senate approved a non-binding bill to approve the

it goes for keystone. if market forces want to build t go for it. but curve your enthusiam. the notion that the pipe line in north america will change gasoline prices will be pure fantasy. we'll only get cheap gas with a strong dollar. >> talk about jobs. everybody is focused there. the way to get it is energy production in the u.s. though? >> the way to get sustainable jobs is private investment. the key stone pipe line is private market dollars and not government dollars and that is how you create job growth in the long-term. it is not government creating temporary jobs. i will bullish on what it would do for jobs in this counselry. our country is awash in cash . businesses are not investing it because they are stymed by the government. >> rich, i saved you from the last. you know how extraordinary the job production is. by the way, students looking for jobs are starting to look right now. they can make 26 dollars an hour in north dakota dack? >> i am from dack and they are paying ever bey to mcdonald franchise to compete with oil field labor. >> wow. >> but the keystone p

also found the keystone x.l. was a project with significant environmental impacts in stark contrast with the state department's findings yeah ok so now this in the setup i talked about you know these problems that have a been identified in and various groups saying hey wait a minute stop pause take a look will there be a reevaluation will there be a new study is there to be any slowing down we had daryl hannah on the show a couple weeks ago along with a woman down in texas who was trying to stop a bulldozer the i mean they literally cut a hole through the middle of her farm by eminent domain. is any of that slowing down what's the status well they are building the southern route as we speak so this is all focused on really connecting that route to the tar sands in canada this route going from montana to nebraska but frankly we have we were hopeful that there will be a slowing down the e.p.a.'s comments cannot the importance of those comments can't be overstated e.p.a. has a huge role in this process and to some e

other news yesterday the house energy and commerce committee held a hearing on the controversial keystone x.l. pipeline supporters and opponents of the toxic tar sands project stood their ground in testimony about the effects of completing the pipeline environmental advocacy groups like the national resources defense council warned of the many dangers presented by the keystone x.l. pipeline inside the recent tar sands oil spill in arkansas as a prime example of what could go wrong but an executive from trans canada inc the company behind keystone x.l. describe the so-called safety features of keystone and its potential role in north american energy independence the main purpose of the hearing was to consider implementing legislation which would force the federal government to approve the final construction of the pipeline and it appears that republicans have teamed up with lawmakers in canada to lobby washington to ok the plan congressman lee terry of nebraska said quote we need to cement our relationship with our best trading partner and friend in canada and secure our national security

he has been active on the keystone xl pipeline issue. >> that is right. this is important to environmentalists. they say this is the top thing president obama promised about his re-election. it will be number one or close to it. they need to hold him to it. tom is interesting. he is talked about already as somebody who might run for governor in california. he has already put $37 million of his own money in two ballot measures here. environmental ballot measures. this is a guy to watch. obama came to his home. overlooking the golden gate bridge. he went to the getty home. a climate change. anti-fossil fuel change. he went to getty. as in getty oil. >> he is at all of these beautiful mansions. >> look, you know, when you talk about any kind of presidential candidate. the republicans cannot say that. when it comes to politics, it is location. >> it is this. obama was going to change things. he was going to be the people's person and all that stuff. when he comes to california and many other places, does he rarely go out to talk to the people. that starts to

citizens energy program and author of the recent public citizen report america can't afford the keystone pipeline dan lashoff climate scientist with the natural natural resources defense council in new york and brad johnson campaign manager with the forecast the facts he's in san francisco thank you all for joining me brad i want to start with you i don't you know want to blame one party to me neither party is doing as much as they including the president is doing as much as they need to on climate change but how trouble is it to you brad that wealth the conservative climate change deniers like the koch's are moving into newspapers medium that's already being used to funnel doubt regarding climate change and what will they do with these do you think. well as you pointed out we in many ways are to have seen what that looks like with the news corp empire throughput murdoch with fox news with the new york post and one of the recent hurdy probably most of that u.k. climate change to now and in the news was from doc own papers there so if you have that and he's so far as we can tell he's prim

. >> pegasus is a pipeline with a 10th of the capacity of keystone xl. you build keystone xl, you have a more significant -- a 10 times more significant risk if there is a spill. >> this is a great example of what could happen if the keystone xl pipeline is permitted and built. >> the dangers are analogous. >> stephen: analogous are they? let me tell you how i feel about that. let's see. possessing corresponding qualities. similar to. i disagree. [ laughter ] i think these critics are just being anaphylactic. [laughter] look it up. i don't know why people are worried about an oil spill from this pegasus pipeline, or from the keystone xl. an oil spill for never happen. because for legal and tax reasons, the black, sticky stuff in both pipelines isn't classified as oil, it's diluted bitumen. [laughter] so good news, arkansas! you don't have an oil spill, you have a bitumen spill! [laughter] it's merely a combination of heavy crude and sand mixed with light hydrocarbons that's difficult to clean up because it sinks in water. see? out of sight, out of mind,

especially with the keystone pipeline the debate around it is always focused on economics how many jobs are going to be pretty even though those numbers are pretty faulty what will it do the price of gasoline again those numbers are also faulty still but the debate is always centered around economics how do we change it to a moral debate that this isn't about economics it doesn't matter what this will do the price of gas or how many jobs will be heard in the short term we're facing a moral crisis and that's what we should be talking about why i think there's been a whole bunch of grassroots activism by public citizen and a bunch of other environmental groups that's part of why there's a million people have submitted comments on this environmental impact statement being coordinated by the department of state so what you see is millions of americans going up against this cynical todd funded by the koch brothers and funded by exxon and all the other big oil and fossil fuel companies because poll after poll shows that a majority of americans understand that climate change is real they under