U.S. Senate Candidate Ken Cope Calls on Senate, House to Drive Keystone Pipeline

MIDLOTHIAN, Texas - Feb. 24, 2014 - PRLog -- Ken Cope, candidate for U.S. Senate, today called on the Senate and the House to take the lead on moving forward with the Keystone Pipeline, saying without that leadership, the Obama Administration will continue to delay the important project.

Cope, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and successful business executive, is challenging incumbent Sen. Cornyn in the March 4 Republican primary. He said Cornyn should do more than just express support for the project, and challenged  Cornyn and other representatives to take the lead in forcing President Obama through public pressure to approve the pipeline immediately.

"It has taken longer to study the Keystone Pipeline project than it did for the U.S. to mobilize and win World War II," Cope said. "Even when it looked at last like the way was clear for approval, the administration found yet another way to delay it. This is ridiculous. Obviously, the President is more concerned about the support of environmentalists and their billionaire supporters than he is about the jobs and national security that the Keystone Pipeline would bring and its long-term value to this country."

Cope emphasized that Canada will send the oil to China if the U.S. doesn't approve the pipeline soon, adding, "The Chinese are more than anxious for the U.S. to fumble the ball once again."

Cope said the pipeline is part of his energy platform, which includes an increase in drilling permits on publicly owned lands and getting government out of the way of the energy industry so it can lead us to energy independence. "We are blessed in this country with an amazing abundance of oil and natural gas that energy companies and their leading-edge technologies are now able to obtain," Cope said. "We need to be encouraging, not discouraging, exploration and drilling and focus on making the U.S. the world's leading energy supplier."

Expanding the energy sector, including completion of the Keystone Pipeline, means good-paying jobs, Cope noted. "You only need to look to North Dakota's economic boom to see how our national economy could benefit," he said. "Becoming truly energy independent – and this includes aggressively encouraging alternative energy sources beyond oil and gas and coal – is the best thing that could happen to our economy and our national security."

Cope said because there is bipartisan support for approving the Keystone Pipeline, "we need leadership in prodding the President to approve the project. Leadership is why I am in this race, particularly because of the lack of Sen. Cornyn’s leadership I see when it comes to important issues such as this."

Information about the campaign and about Cope's positions on the issues confronting Texans and all of America can be found at the campaign website, www.CopeTexas.com, and the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/copetexas. Cope is also on Twitter at @CopeTexas.