Tester: Keystone oil should be used in US

U. S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Wednesday that the U. S. government should require oil coming into the country through a proposed pipeline from Canada stay in the country.

Tester said he believes the Keystone XL pipeline, to transport oil from the tar sands in northeastern Alberta to Texas, will be built, and he wants the oil that goes through the line to be sold here.

Tester introduced an amendment Tuesday that would require just that.

"Right now I've been that told all the oil that's going to be coming down the Keystone pipeline is going to be refined in Houston and shipped out …, " he said in a telephone press conference. "I just thought it was prudent, if we're going to build it and build it right and deal with private property rights and have the highest safety standards, once it gets down to Houston we ought to have first crack at the pump. "

Tester, along with his Republican opponent in the 2012 U. S. Senate election, U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., all have been outspoken advocates for the construction of the pipeline.

President Barack Obama in January, after legislation backed by all three Montana lawmakers required him to make a decision on a permit application for the pipeline within a 60-day period passed in December, denied the permit. Obama said the short deadline did not give enough time for environmental review of the proposed route.

As the pipeline crosses an international boundary, it requires approval by the president under a recommendation of the Department of State.

The company that wants to build the pipeline, TransCanada, has said it will submit a new permit application with a new proposed route.

Tester said Wednesday he believes the federal government requiring the refined petroleum be sold in the United States is appropriate.

"Energy is critically important, " he said. "One of the reasons that I support the Keystone pipeline is that it will reduce our reliance on Middle Eastern oil, and, quite honestly, if we just refined it and ship it out we still have that reliance.

"I think from a national security standpoint it makes sense, and from a consumer standpoint it makes sense, " he said.

He said he also is working on trying to expand energy production in a variety of areas, including one involving Havre.

Tester said he had talked to representatives of the U. S. Navy and U. S. Air Force earlier Wednesday and had advocated the military use biofuels being researched at Montana State University-Northern in Havre.

"I asked the Air Force in particular to utilize the kind of work that (Northern is) doing as they move forth with biofuel research for the Air Force and firing up those jets, " he said.

He also is working on several other issues, including opening up U. S. Forest Service land for logging through his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act.

"Not all of that wood would be able to be used for dimension lumber, " Tester said. "Some … can be used for electricity generation, and it would be a predictable supply so people can build those energy facilities around that. "

He said he also is working on several other fronts, including pushing to make sure tax credits for renewable energy are continued, and is working with Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, to "eliminate red tape" on leasing public land for renewable energy production.

"We've got our fingers in a lot of different pots on this, " Tester said, adding that increasing domestic energy also opens many opportunities, particularly in a state like Montana.

Montana has opportunities across the gamut, he said, whether it's conventional energy of natural gas oil and coal or it's renewable energy of wind geothermal biofuels biomass.

"And it's all got to be done responsibly, " Tester added. "Just because it's renewable doesn't mean it's done right. We've got to do those things right, too, as we step forth in our energy future. "