Hoeven: Obama will approve Keystone

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he thinks President Obama will approve the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

In the wake of multiple crude-by-rail train accidents in North Dakota, leaving railcars ablaze and nearby residents at risk, Hoeven said on “Platts Energy Week” that the U.S. needs more pipelines.

{mosads}The U.S. needs pipelines, “not only to improve conditions in terms of rail, but trucks,” Hoeven said on Sunday. “With the Keystone pipeline, we’d take 500 trucks a day off our roads in western North Dakota.”

“So clearly pipelines are a part of the solution. But also we have to do everything we can in terms of safety when we talk about running crude by train or by truck,” he added.

With U.S. crude oil production reaching near 20-year highs, the country’s energy infrastructure — specifically transportation — has become a looming concern.

And with mounting pressure to find a solution for transporting increasing amounts of crude oil across the U.S., Hoeven thinks Obama doesn’t have much a choice when it comes to the TransCanada proposed Keystone XL, which would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries.

When asked if the administration would approve it, Hoeven said he “thinks they will.”

“I think they will because we keep pushing, and I think if they turn it down, I will be able to get enough of my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to say ‘no.’ This is a necessary infrastructure; we’ve got to have it,” Hoeven said.