UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News) Wisconsin’s two U-S senators remain split on allowing the Keystone X-L oil pipeline, after the Senate approved it yesterday 62-to-36. Republican Ron Johnson voted with the majority, saying the pipeline would deliver new sources of domestic oil which have resulted in lower energy prices and an improved economy. Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin said the oil that’s delivered by the Keystone pipeline could end up in other countries, thus causing gas prices to rise in the Midwest. She also repeated that the government has no business approving individual pipelines.
Baldwin said she supported amendments that would have ensured that Americans benefit from the pipeline’s construction down the middle of the nation, instead of oil companies repeating higher profits from foreign customers. Other opponents cited a steady increase in pipeline accidents over the past six years. However, Johnson said that President Obama’s own State Department found the Keystone to be the most environmentally-friendly method of moving Canadian oil. He said there’s no good reason for the Democrat Obama to keep blocking the project.
