Amendments to H.R. 1938.

Amendment No. 1—Reps. Welch (D-VT), Cohen (D-TN):  The amendment would insert the following language: “The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would run through the Ogallala aquifer, risking an oil spill into one of the world’s largest freshwater aquifers that provides 30 percent of the groundwater used for irrigation in the United States and drinking water for millions of Americans.  Even a small, undetected leak from an underground rupture of the pipeline in the Nebraska Sandhills could pollute almost 5,000,000,000 gallons of groundwater—enough oil to pose serious health threats to anyone using the underlying Ogallala Aquifer for drinking water or agriculture.”
Amendment No. 2—Rep. Rush (D-IL):  The amendment would strike the finding in the bill that states that analysis using the Environmental Protection Agency models shows that the Keystone XL pipeline will result in no significant change in total United States or global greenhouse gas emissions.
Amendment No. 3—Rep. Eshoo (D-CA):  The amendment would include an additional finding quoting testimony from the US Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Administrator regarding the potential risks associated with transporting diluted bitumen.  The amendment would require PHMSA to complete a review of the risks associated with transporting diluted bitumen, and whether current pipeline regulations are sufficient.
Amendment No. 4—Rep. Christensen (D-VI):  The amendment would insert an additional finding to read, “The Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement estimates that the Keystone XL pipeline would increase carbon pollution associated with United States fuel use by up to 23,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions from an extra 4,500,000 passenger vehicles.”
Amendment No. 5—Rep. Cohen (D-TN):  The amendment would strike finding 16 and replace it with the following language:  “TransCanada Corporation’s first wholly owned oil pipeline in the United States is the recently built Keystone I, which spilled 12 times in the United States and 21 times in Canada in less than one year of operation. Despite claims that it is ‘the safest pipeline ever built’, Keystone was recently shut down by the United States Government because it was deemed a ‘threat to life, property, and the environment.”
Amendment No. 6—Reps. Murphy (D-CT), Cohen (D-TN), Welch (D-VT):  The amendment would include an additional finding to read “Consultants employed by Canadian tar sands companies have publicly stated that without the Keystone XL pipeline, Canada’s tar sands will be ‘landlocked’ and unable to be exported overseas.  There are significant barriers to construction of a pipeline to ports on the West Coast of Canada.  The Keystone XL pipeline, which would service Port Arthur and the Port of Houston, would allow tar sands crude to be exported. Permitting the pipeline would provide an export route to China where none now exists.”
Amendment No. 7—Rep. Rush (D-IL):  The amendment would extend the deadline for permit decision to 120 days after final environmental impact statement or until January 1, 2012.
Amendment No. 8—Rep. Hanabusa (D-HI):  The amendment would require “worst-case discharge scenario certification” prohibiting a presidential permit to be issued approving the construction and operation of the Keystone XL pipeline unless the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the PHMSA, certifies that the applicant has calculated a worst-case oil spill scenario for the proposed pipeline; and has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Secretary and the PHMSA that the applicant possesses the capability and technology to respond immediately and effectively to such worst-case oil spill scenario.
The amendment would allow the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the PHMSA, to waive the requirement for such a certification if the applicant has already completed a worst-case discharge scenario analysis and established that it possesses the capability and technology to respond immediately and effectively to such worst-case oil spill scenario.
Amendment No. 9—Rep. Johnson (D-GA):  The amendment would prohibit construction on the Pipeline until the president has determined that the appropriate federal agency has completed a study of the health impacts of increased air pollution in communities near refineries, including an assessment of the cumulative air pollution impacts on these communities.
Amendment No. 10—Rep. Jackson Lee (D-TX):  The amendment would insert a sense of Congress stating that “the United States must decrease its dependence on oil from countries which are hostile to the interests of the United States.  Canada has long been a strong trading partner, and increased access to their energy resources will create jobs in the United States.”
Amendment No. 11—Rep. Kucinich (D-OH):  The amendment would prohibit any final orders from the president until the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Federal Trade Commission, has certified that permitting the pipeline would not lead to manipulation of the United States oil market that would be detrimental to United States consumers.

http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/1/hr1938