Operating Engineer - International Union of Operating Engineers

Politics & Legislation
International, Multi-Front Campaign to Build Keystone XL Pipeline
The battle to build the 1,200-
mile Keystone XL Pipeline is being
waged on several different fronts –
in Congress, in regulatory agencies,
and on the ground. The campaign
rages while the 500-mile Gulf Coast
segment of the crude-oil pipeline from
Cushing, OK, to Port Arthur, TX, which
was originally part of the Keystone
XL, is currently under construction,
employing over one-thousand
Operating Engineers.
Because the project crosses the
U.S.-Canadian border, the project
requires a Presidential Permit, which
is issued by the State Department. In
November 2011, President Obama
halted consideration of the permit
for Keystone XL, saying that the State
of Nebraska needed more time to
consider alternative routes around
the sensitive Sand Hills area. Instead
of losing precious time on the portion
of the pipeline that does not cross the
border, TransCanada secured permits
for the Gulf Coast project that would
help eliminate the immediate supply
glut in Cushing, OK, and move crude
oil to refineries in Port Arthur, TX.
Members of Local 178, 450, and 627 are
building the project in their jurisdiction
now.
After the President delayed the
project, Nebraska moved forward
with its environmental review of
the pipeline, ultimately rerouting
the Keystone XL completely around
sensitive area. Nebraska Governor
Dave Heineman said in his January
22, 2013 letter to President Obama and
then-Secretary Clinton that the state
had “completed its evaluation” and
that the project “...would have minimal
environmental impacts in Nebraska.”
The State Department incorporated
Nebraska’s new reroute into its
review and recently released an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
for the project seeking public comment.
The International Union joined the
other pipeline crafts in sending a letter
to the State Department, which called
for the project’s expedited approval.
Members of the Operating Engineers
filed thousands of comments
supporting the project in that part of
the process. The project awaits its Final
12
international operating engineer