Senator Steve Daines joined the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today to approve construction of Keystone XL pipeline, clearing the way for full Senate vote.

"What this means for Montana, first of all, is 100,000 barrels a day of Montana and North Dakota oil that enters that pipeline in a small town called Baker, Montana," Daines said. "Second, as I was traveling one day to a co-op in Glasgow, Montana, they told me if the Keystone XL pipeline were approved, electric rates for their co-op payers, and I can tell you, those are folks who don't have a lot of money—their rates will remain flat for the next 10 years because of the Keystone pipeline."

Daines said the pipeline will supply electricity for countless Montanans.

"If the Keystone pipeline is not approved, the electric rates for those hardworking Montana families will go up 40 percent in the next ten years," Daines said. "It's $80 million a year in tax revenues for the state of Montana and for these rural counties that desperately need infrastructure to pay for roads, for bridges, for teachers, for schools."

After Daines introduced several letters from Montanans in support of the reconstruction, the bill passed in the committee with bipartisan support.

"This legislation is exactly the kind of commonsense solution that Montanans want to see," Daines said. "It has broad bipartisan support, it's environmentally sound, it creates jobs and it helps move us toward energy independence. I look forward to passing it out of the Senate and giving President Obama the opportunity to finally approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline after six years of political games and gridlock."

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