A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging Congress to support and to ask the United States Secretary of State to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline project.

    WHEREAS, the United States relies, and will continue to rely for many years, on gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel despite the recent focus on renewable and alternative sources of energy; and

    WHEREAS, in order to fuel our economy the United States will need more oil and natural gas in addition to requiring additional alternative energy sources; and

    WHEREAS, the United States currently depends on foreign imports for more than half of its petroleum usage and is the largest consumer of petroleum in the world and United States dependence on overseas oil has created difficult geopolitical relationships with potentially damaging consequences for our national security; and

    WHEREAS, oil deposits in the Bakken Reserves of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota are an increasingly important crude oil resource with an estimated eleven billion barrels

of recoverable crude oil, and there is not enough pipeline capacity for crude oil supplies from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas to American refineries; and

    WHEREAS, Canadian oil reserves contain an estimated 173 billion barrels of recoverable oil and Canada is the single largest supplier of oil to the United States at 2.62 million barrels per day with the capacity to significantly increase that rate; and

    WHEREAS, the Keystone XL pipeline will, when completed, carry 700,000 barrels of North American crude oil to American refineries in the Gulf Coast region; and

    WHEREAS, construction of the project will create 120,000 jobs nationwide including 20,000 in construction and manufacturing, create twenty billion dollars in economic growth, and generate millions of dollars worth of government receipts; and

    WHEREAS, a recent study by the United States Department of Energy found that increasing delivery of crude oil from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alberta, as well as Texas and Oklahoma, to American refineries has the potential to substantially reduce our country's dependency on sources outside of North America; and

    WHEREAS, Canada sends more than ninety-nine percent of its oil exports to the United States, the bulk of which goes to Midwestern refineries; and oil companies are investing huge sums to expand and upgrade refineries in the Midwest to make gasoline and other refined products from Canadian oil and the expansion and upgrade projects will create many new construction jobs over the next five years and substantially add to the gross product of South Dakota; and

    WHEREAS, ninety percent of the money used to buy Canadian oil will likely later be spent directly on United States goods and services in contrast with increasing the trade relationship with unstable regions. Supporting the continued shift towards reliable and secure sources of North American oil is a vital interest to the United States and the State of South Dakota:

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    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Ninety-First Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Legislature supports continued and increased development and delivery of oil derived from North American oil reserves to American refineries; urges Congress to support continued and increased development and delivery of oil from Canada to the United States and urges Congress to ask the United States Secretary of State to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project that has been awaiting a presidential permit since 2008 to ensure America's oil independence, improve our national security, reduce the cost of gasoline, create new jobs, and strengthen ties between the United States and Canada; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the secretary of state transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the speaker and clerk of the United States House of Representatives, to the president pro tempore and secretary of the United States Senate, and to the members of the South Dakota Congressional delegation.