Lugar parries Waxman on Hoosier State pipeline interest

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is defending the Indiana government’s lobbying on behalf of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline a day after a top House Democrat raised questions about the effort.

Lugar, a strong proponent of the pipeline, sent a letter across the Capitol on Friday to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), an outspoken critic of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed project to bring crude from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries.

Lugar, whose office called Waxman’s inquiry “surprising,” said in the letter, “The State of Indiana is fully justified to advocate on this issue and for private sector Hoosier jobs.”

He noted two examples of Indiana residents building equipment that would be used on the project. “I have personally met with Hoosiers working in jobs that will directly benefit from Keystone XL,” Lugar writes.

In one case, Lugar said workers at Koontz-Wagner Electric Co. would build controls for Siemens pumps that would move oil along the pipeline.

Waxman on Thursday sent a letter to a lobbyist for the state asking for a briefing, noting Indiana “does not have an obvious interest in seeing the Keystone XL project constructed.” We have more on Waxman’s letter here.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), in delivering the GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union address, criticized the president's decision last month to reject a permit from the project.