April 22, 2013

Associated Industries of Florida and Consumer Energy Alliance gather more than 27,000 comments from Floridians supportive of the pipeline

TALLAHASSEE – Associated Industries of Florida (AIF), in partnership with the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), recruited 27,787 Florida residents who petitioned the U.S. Department of State to approve construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline because of the jobs, energy and economic security generated by the project.

“Stronger energy security and lower fuel prices aren’t the only things that come with the new Keystone XL Pipeline. Construction will bring new jobs, new customers, new business, new sales and new investment,” said Brewster Bevis, AIF Senior Vice President, State and Federal Affairs. “Investing in infrastructure projects is a big part of what can be done to boost the economy, and we need that boost now.”    

The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline would deliver 830,000 barrels of U.S. and Canadian crude oil per day to refineries along the Gulf Coast in Texas. Its construction will help create more than 42,000 jobs nationwide, and generate more than $20 billion in new economic growth for the struggling U.S. economy.

“The Keystone XL Pipeline will be the safest pipeline ever built in the United State. Not only will it help reduce fuel prices for families coast to coast, it will dramatically improve our energy security by reducing our reliance on overseas oil,” said Kevin Doyle, CEA Florida Executive Director. “These comments that we are submitting today from thousands of Floridians reflect what people across the country are saying: we need jobs, we need a stronger economy, and we need to build the Keystone XL Pipeline.”

Keystone XL received approval from Canada’s National Energy Board in 2010, but the project also requires a Presidential Permit from the U.S. Department of State because it crosses an international border.

In January, a bipartisan coalition of 53 senators, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), sent a letter to President Obama urging him to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. The U.S. Senate voted in March to approve the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline in an amendment to the Senate budget. Both Sen. Rubio and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) voted in favor of the pipeline.