NEWS

Oil-Backed Senators Lobby for Keystone XL

admin | February 05, 2014

On Tuesday, Feb. 4th, 2014, a group of senators -- five Democrats and five Republicans -- held a press conference to encourage President Obama to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline project. The senators' push comes just days after the State Department seemingly paved the way for the project to be approved by issuing findings that the pipeline is not likely to cause a significant increase in the extraction of tar sands oil, a process that has a bigger greenhouse gas footprint than other types of fuel production.

Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to senators who held the press conference -- Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), David Vitter (R-La.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) -- from PACs and employees of interest groups in the oil and gas industry, from Jan. 1, 2007 - Dec. 31, 2012. Data source: OpenSecrets.org

Senators encouraging Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline have received, on average, 2.1 times more money from the oil and gas industry ($305,655) than the average received by all senators (143,570).

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