Keystone Pipeline: House Republicans To Try Again To Advance Project

* Obama had put the pipeline on hold

* Republicans say pipeline would generate jobs

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will revive efforts to quickly advance the stalled Keystone XL crude oil pipeline and insist that approval for the project be part of a long-term deal to fund highways and other infrastructure.

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama put a hold on TransCanada's $7 billion project, which would ship oil from Canada and northern U.S. states to Texas, because he said it needed further environmental review.

Republicans have attacked the decision by the Democratic president in the run-up to the November presidential elections, saying the United States needs the jobs and the oil as the economy continues to struggle and gasoline prices surge.

Last month, Republicans in the Senate tried to attach approval for the pipeline to a two-year highway funding bill. The bid failed on a vote of 56-42, four short of the 60 needed to pass in the Democratic-controlled chamber. Eleven Democrats voted with the Republicans.

Congress ended up passing a 90-day stopgap funding bill after House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, struggled to find enough support for long-term financing.

"As Congress now prepares to extend transportation programs and negotiate a longer-term package, the House will insist that the Keystone XL legislation be included as part of the package," the House Energy and Commerce Committee said on its web site on Friday.

The House has already passed legislation that would transfer authority for approving the pipeline to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and would require the regulator to quickly issue permits.

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Comments

[Warren Yuill]

07:06 AM on 04/15/2012

Approval of the Kinder Morgan pipline expansion/twinning has got them taking notice.
Kinder Morgan has a 300,000bpd pipline running from Edmonton to Vancouver.
They now have approval to expand it to 850,000 bpd.
Actually the approval was 'baked into the cake' of their initial pipline regulatory approval back in the nineties.
It's a done deal.

[rodjard]

07:34 PM on 04/14/2012

A pipeline is a great idea if it were transporting water to
drought areas instead of oil for transport out of the country.

[artleads]

07:08 PM on 04/14/2012

Dem Senators need to be pressured to do the right thing and oppose this second try. I hope there will be an organized campaign to persuade them to that end. No time to slack off. This is a struggle to the end.

[KsAPigButt]

08:00 PM on 04/13/2012

Since the repubs are so dead set on that pipeline and the Canadian tar sands, why don't they move to Canada and refine the tar sands for Canada themselves. That will be cheaper, less of a hastle for everyone involved, and the repubs will be right in the heart of what they love better than anything.

[Robert Lee Harrington]

09:56 PM on 04/13/2012

Many of the Republicans in Congress ALREADY INVESTED in Tar Sands in Canada.
Many of them got their campaign money from Koch/Exxon/Valero
Many Canadians think that there is too much US Corp influence in Canadian politics.

[KsAPigButt]

11:49 PM on 04/13/2012

I know. But if they want those tar sands so badly, let them go up there and take care of it..

[mnyegele]

07:51 PM on 04/13/2012

Actually, we already have Keystone Pipelines, so we don't need Keystone XL. TransCanada wants to extend the Keystone Pipeline to Port Arthur, Texas, for on reason only. They want to export all the oil that flows through the Pipeline. We won't get one drop.

Yet we are risking vital water resources for a pipeline that will send all the oil to China.

Once again the GOP and the Koch Brothers are conning America. And every one of the Congressmen trying to push the pipeline is getting generous campaing contributions from Trans Canada and other oil companies.

When will the public wake up and realize the GOP does not give a rat for America. The GOP is perfectly willing to wreck America for the profits of a foreign oil company.

[lfreefall]

06:14 PM on 04/13/2012

I am so tired of these house Republicans attaching all the crap to important items that they know the Dems won't agree with and then declaring that the Dems block et.al.

[sabela]

05:58 PM on 04/13/2012

http://www.npr.org/local/stories/Michigan-Radio/150491099

Just glad it won't go through my state. 2 years, more years before it is cleaned up because this oil, doesn't float, it sinks.

[David Marble]

07:27 PM on 04/15/2012

Careful the pipeline apologists don't see this. I was called a liar for relating an anecdote about water quality after the Kalamazoo River spill.

FYI, the river is still closed to the public and there is an advisory in place not to eat the fish from the river. Keep the damn bitumen away from waterways.

[sabela]

12:18 PM on 04/16/2012

I know, they just believe what they want to and ignore the facts. That lake will probably never be completely safe again.

[Michigan Joe]

05:44 PM on 04/13/2012

I guess the Koch brothers told the GOP what they had to do, and do it fast.

[Ari Asulin]

05:05 PM on 04/13/2012

It didn't used to be such a clearly good vs evil fight.

Now it is rather clear.