{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cantwell-urges-president-obama-to-engage-canada-on-trans-mountain-pipeline-protect-us-waters-economy", "Cantwell Urges President Obama to Engage Canada on Trans Mountain Pipeline, Protect US Waters, Economy", "2016-12-07", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "WA", "Maria Cantwell", "C000127", "www.cantwell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.07.16\n    \t\t\t Cantwell Urges President Obama to Engage Canada on Trans Mountain Pipeline, Protect US Waters, Economy \n    \t\t\t\n    \t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n    \t\t\t\t Cantwell: US lacks \u201cthe necessary oil spill prevention and response technologies\u201d to clean up tar sands oil spill\n    \t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n    \t\t\t WASHINGTON, D.C.\u00a0\u2013 In a letter to President Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) urged the president to take action regarding Canada\u2019s approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project. Specifically, the letter asks President Obama to directly engage with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and call on the Canadian government to ensure adequate protections are in place to mitigate oil spill risk in Washington state.\r\n\u201cA tar sands oil spill would create far reaching environmental and economic consequences in the Pacific Northwest.,\u201d Cantwell wrote in the letter. \u201cGiven the importance of the Pacific Coast to the United States, I urge you to engage with Prime Minister Trudeau and take action to protect the Puget Sound.\u00a0 It is critical that sufficient policies, response resources and regulations are in place before moving forward with construction of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project.\u201d\r\nIn her letter, Cantwell points out that expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline is projected to nearly triple capacity of the Trans Mountain Pipeline from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels of crude oil a day and increase vessel traffic along the Pacific Coast by seven-fold, with each tanker holding more than twenty-five million gallons of oil.\u00a0 However, the U.S. and Canada do not have the technologies or capabilities to clean-up a tar sands oil spill. In addition, advocates of the project have yet to outline how to best equip first responders in the event of a spill.\r\nWith no current response technologies capable of cleaning-up a tar sands oil spill, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project would put the multibillion dollar Pacific coastal economies at even greater risk. Oil spills have the potential to collapse fisheries, devastate the Pacific Northwest tourism industry and pose a direct threat to key species such as the endangered Southern resident orcas. In addition to impacts to the fishing and tourism industries, an oil spill in the Strait of Juan de Fuca or the transboundary Salish Sea could restrict vessel traffic to such a degree that Washington state ports could be brought to a grinding halt, leading to overwhelming impacts on both the Washington state and national economies.\r\nCantwell\u2019s letter also expressed significant concern regarding the impact a tar sands oil spill would have on Tribal fisheries in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. Additional tankers carrying Canadian tar sands oil would transit adjacent to usual and accustomed fishing grounds of critical importance to Pacific Northwest Tribes.\u00a0\r\n\u201cIt is our treaty trust responsibility to protect Tribal fishing rights against the risks posed by increasing foreign oil tankers transiting our waterways.\u201d\u00a0 Cantwell said in the letter.\r\nFull text of the letter can be found here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cantwell-urges-president-obama-to-engage-canada-on-trans-mountain-pipeline-protect-us-waters-economy"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5945550985634327, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}