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House defies Obama over Keystone pipeline
Republicans defied a White House veto threat and passed legislation mandating the building of a controversial oil pipeline.
Thu, Apr 19 2012 at 12:37 AM
PIPELINE: Speaker of the House John Boehner lashed out at President Barack Obama and his decision to reject a bid to expand the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. "This fight is not over," Boehner said. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/AFP)
House Republicans kept a key plank of their energy policy alive, defying a White House veto threat and passing legislation mandating the building of a controversial oil pipeline.
The text calling for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast was inserted into a bill extending transportation funding, which passed 293-127 in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
About 70 Democrats voted for the measure in the House but it is considered unlikely that the bill — in its current form with the Keystone XL provision — would pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Congress had already approved a 90-day funding extension last month, after the House refused to pass the Senate's two-year, $109 billion transportation bill that had bipartisan support.
The new House extension allows the party caucuses to gather together to hash out a compromise.
While House Speaker John Boehner had worked in vain to get the House to pass a massive, five-year transportation bill, he was hailing the latest extension as a victory.
"The House is on record again in support of the Keystone XL energy pipeline — a project President Obama blocked, personally lobbied against, then tried to take credit for, and now says he'll veto," Boehner said in a statement.
Republicans have savaged Obama for suspending the project, under pressure from environmental groups, in January when he said the pipeline's planned route was through environmentally sensitive areas.
Boehner said the $7 billion project — part of an "all of the above" energy strategy that exploits traditional sources like oil and natural gas as well as newer technologies like wind, solar and biofuels — would "create tens of thousands of new American jobs."
"If he continues to stand in the way, the Canadian government will bypass the United States and ship their energy — and the jobs that come with it — to countries like China," Boehner added.
Environmentalists fear an accident along the 1,700-mile pipeline would spell disaster for aquifers in central US Great Plains states. They also oppose the project because exploiting the oil sands requires energy that generate a large volume of greenhouse gases.
CNN, citing a spokesman for Nebraska's environmental authority, reported that the company behind the controversial pipeline, TransCanada, has submitted a proposal for a new route that bypasses an environmentally sensitive aquifer.
Copyright 2012 AFP Global Edition
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Keystone wasn't going anywhere before and it's really not going anywhere now. As we have seen in the past few weeks more states are requesting the pipeline not turning it away. Keystone for all its controversy actually provides us with a vehicle to employ people directly and also help get ourselves off of middle eastern oil dependence. We really need to get reach about what out recovery is going to take and embrace projects like these to use them to our advantage.