John Boehner: Keystone XL Pipeline May Be Linked To Highway Bill

WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a highway bill that Congress will consider next month, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday.

President Barack Obama earlier this month denied TransCanada's application for the oil sands pipeline, citing lack of time to review an alternative route within a 60-day window for action set by Congress.

Republicans have since been looking for a vehicle to resurrect the $7 billion project, and Boehner said that would be a House Republican energy and highway bill.

"If (Keystone) is not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it will be part of it," Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" news program.

Environmentalists and some Democrats oppose Keystone, citing higher greenhouse gas emissions, while most Republicans say it would create needed jobs.

Republicans in the Senate also plan to introduce a Keystone bill. Some Senate Democrats back the pipeline, but its passage is not guaranteed in the body.

Parts of the House Republican plan, such as opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, stand little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

Attaching Keystone to a pending deal to extend payroll tax cuts for workers, which has greater bipartisan backing than the highway bills, is another vehicle Republicans are considering. (Reporting By Kim Dixon; Editing by Paul Simao)

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Comments

[cosmicdart]

06:13 AM on 01/31/2012

What we need is a fresh water pipe line going from the Great Lakes to the drought struck Southwest so we may irrigate millions of square miles of land for food production. We also need to build long distance power lines for transferring electric power from renewable sources. These would be long term infrastructure developments that would create permanent jobs for millions of workers. A pipe line for transporting toxic tar muck is outrageous. Why don't Canadians want to send this tar muck across Canada to the West coast where Chinese tankers could suck it up and transport it to Mainland China? If we could farm drought regions of America and Mexico we could grow switch grass for making renewable motor fuel.

[hogwash49505]

01:40 PM on 01/31/2012

Or, people could just move back to the midwest/Great Lakes where the water IS. Irrigate a desert? That makes sense...

[Kevin Johns]

02:39 AM on 01/31/2012

Boehner's desperate. He has a lot of money (100s of thousands) invested in companies involved on the line.Techn­ology to send the sludge over vast difference­s uncertain. Already several spills on Canadian side. Product from refinery is not destined for USA, but overseas markets. We are increasing it's own drilling permit for cleaner product. http://www.newphilippinesnews.com/John%20Boehner/news

[sonoffestus]

12:16 AM on 01/31/2012

Boner.............A little head that thinks of one thing and he's the Leader of the House. It just ain't right.

[Jared Jentzsch]

10:27 PM on 01/30/2012

I am sure that Boehner and his buddies in the house all have a pile of stocks in the XL deal. Otherwise, why try so hard?

[Pollytiques]

01:24 PM on 02/10/2012

Ask Google about Boehner and his pipeline stocks. EYE OPENING...and lo and behold they come up with this phoney Birth Control hoohaa to get the that information off the news...of course for them to do that...they have to have the co-operation of the MSM..anyone want to bet on THAT? We have seen a good example of that the last two days...and I don't remember anyone asking about Boehner or anyone elses stock deals..

[Jared Jentzsch]

10:24 PM on 01/30/2012

Why do our politicians constantly try to out maneuver what is good for the many, in trade for what is good for the few. Who the hell are these people anyway. Maybe Newt is right, 13000 people on the moon sounds good as long as Boehner is the first!

[azted123]

10:14 AM on 01/31/2012

Select politicians from the taxpayer public via a lottery in each state. Break the grip of the Parties and the dollars they spend to brain wash the public. Some would be bad but some would be dam fine people running a honest business for this Country. Six year terms and then select another group. No training needed, just common sense and honest integrety Crooks can not exist where there is honest people working to prevent that from happening.

[Pollytiques]

01:26 PM on 02/10/2012

Actually I would like to see Boehner and all the crooks mixed up in this deal in Guantanamo where all traitors to this country belongs..

[Norma Ward]

09:15 PM on 01/30/2012

Perhaps increasing Canada's exports of synthetic crude oil is not in the best interest of its long-term energy security. As shown in this article, it is unlikely that oil sands production levels will ever reach the levels proposed by the pipeline operators, making it more likely that Canada will have to import increasing volumes of oil:

http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2012/01/canadas-oil-sands-are-we-exporting.html

Canada's domestic energy security should be prioritized above pipeline company profits and well above long-term energy security for other nations.

[SolarArray]

08:26 PM on 01/30/2012

Ah, the Republicans are throwing this into the eco-paper toilet paper bill. And if that doesn't work, they'll add it to the "Nicer tasting toothpaste" bill. Man are they good or what?

[DANIELISTICALL]

02:49 PM on 01/30/2012

The Keystone XL has faced lawsuits from oil refineries and criticism from environmentalists and some members of the United States Congress. The U.S. Department of State in 2010 extended the deadline for federal agencies to decide if the pipeline is in the national interest, and in November, 2011, President Obama postponed the decision until 2013. On November 30, Senate Republicans introduced legislation aimed at forcing the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, unless the president declares the project is not in the national interest
GUESS WHAT IT IS NOT IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST

[blueprint55]

02:00 PM on 01/30/2012

But the fight isn't over yet. House Speaker John Boehner, the most powerful Republican in Congress, recently pledged to push for approval of the filthy oil pipeline using any means necessary — telling Fox News "all options are on the table."1 Boehner underscored this threat by bringing three dirty oil and pipeline executives as his personal guests to the State of the Union address as a protest to President Obama’s rejection of the pipeline.So what’s the going rate for a pro-polluter agenda in Congress? Big Oil’s friends in the House–among them Speaker John Boehner — have reaped over $12 million from the oil & gas industry in just the last 2 years. And according to OpenSecrets.org, the six senators behind the new Keystone bill have accepted more than $3 million in campaign contributions from the oil & gas industry.

[Gary St Lawrence]

01:23 PM on 01/30/2012

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Put in an iron-clad amendment to the Keystone Pipeline bill that makes it permanently and in-perpetuity mandatory that every drop of oil that comes out of the Keystone pipeline *MUST NEVER BE SOLD ON THE GLOBAL MARKET* and *MUST BE SOLD, DISTRIBUTED AND CONSUMED ONLY WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES" and the bill will pass.

Until, then, it's just more of Boehner's patented self-wealth scheme and his career-long practice of fellating his corporate masters.

[Anny Seavey]

02:15 PM on 01/30/2012

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globallaborinstitute/research/upload/GLI_KeystoneXL_
This sums it up pretty well and the thing that I worry the most is the Missouri River . That thing would scrunch up that pipe like aluminum foil in a heartbeat inone of its thaws or a bad flood then how many millions to try to clean it up. It is fresh water guys!
The jobs we would get for a short time would not be worth it look at the report The lobbists are lying and the polititions are as well When will we learn ??

[angusmciver]

04:32 PM on 01/30/2012

Thanks for that Anny It does sum it up pretty well.

[Gary St Lawrence]

01:19 PM on 01/30/2012

Once again, this "critical bill that's utterly good for America" can't and won't be submitted to pass or fail on IT"S OWN MERITS.

Instead, Boehner is going to ONCE AGAIN use a bill that actually *IS* beneficial to all Americans as HOSTAGE to try and get the pet bill that his corporate-masters and oil industry controllers want.

How many more times will the Keystone Pipeline bill be attached like a life-sucking barnicle to LEGITIMATE legislation before Boehner and his fellow puppets give it up?

If the Keystone bill had *ANY* intrinsic value or legislative merit whatsoever, it wouldn't need to be stapled on to other bills as part of a ransom demand.

[copperbrown]

12:33 PM on 01/30/2012

first bonner said 20,000 jobs on this keystone deal....

last time he talked about it he said 100,000 jobs.

...........well make up you mind bonner, which is it???........

OH I know.... it's 5,000 jobs, for a short time....and it is NOT about jobs...

It's about the return on his investments.....and being pinched by the Corp.'s that OWN him.

[copperbrown]

12:19 PM on 01/30/2012

the pipe line and bonner are an eyesore.
Of course we don't want either one.

bonner has invested a lot of his own money in company's that are attached to building this monstrosity. repugs don't care about dumping hordes of oil in the ocean....killing tremendous life in it. There's proof on that.
there NOT gonna care if they dump lots of oil all across the country, making toxic soil and water so nothing "could grow"....not to mention the eye sore

for those who say I dont know what I'm talking about.............look up the investors on the project first....
then make your Judgement.........

dont be like mich daniels.....contradict without FACTS

[DANIELISTICALL]

11:49 AM on 01/30/2012

Drill baby Drill will not work,,,,,,,, If big oil puts a oil well in you're front yard,,, the oil that comes out of it is theirs and theirs alone,, they do not have to sell you one drop. the oil would be put on the FREE market and you would have to bid against China,, and Spain,, ect. for the oil that came out of you're own front yard,,,,,,,,,,,, .
not to mention the U S has not built a REFINERY since there are 149 refineries in the United States, with the last one built 32 years ago. and the ones that do exist are not even running at or near FULL CAPACITY NOW,,,,,,, if you do not understand this,,, go down to auto zone pick up a dozen or so QUARTS OF OIL dump them into you're GAS TANK and see how that works for you......................there is little you can do with crude oil straight from the ground, it must be refined, Big oil is not interest in building any refineries why would they ?? we are their biggest customers(saps) they want the oil we drill here to be REFINED some where else and sold back to us, in order to maximize their profit of us, that is why dill baby drill is useless and just empty rhetoric promoted by guess who BIG OIL

[Johnson Jennifer]

11:48 AM on 01/30/2012

Attach the bill to anything and everything until they finnaly approve it, or dont let anything pass at all? Thats the plan?
Way to go Repulicans yall just lost my vote... maybe thats what needs to happen? What if no one votes Republican this election year maybe they will get the hint?

[3beanCrispy]

09:01 PM on 01/30/2012

they will attach is to a golden egg and then question why Obama hates golden eggs when he opposes it. i think many mainstream uninformed voters will vote for anyone over Obama due to all the twisted and contorted truths that have abounded the newswires the past 3 years : (