Politics

House Sends Keystone XL Bill To Obama’s Desk

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Michael Bastasch DCNF Managing Editor
Font Size:

House lawmakers passed another bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday afternoon, marking the 11th time congressmen have voted to approve the contentious project.

Pro-pipeline Democrats joined Republicans in passing a Senate bill approving Keystone over the objections of the Obama administration. The bill now heads to the White House where it is expected to be vetoed by President Obama.

“It directly creates jobs,” Wyoming Republican Rep. Cynthia Lummis said on the House floor before the vote. “It’s a shot in the arm for our energy economy. It will make America more energy secure. Why the President would threaten to veto this bill is beyond rational explanation. It’s economic benefits could not be more evident.”

The White House has said it would oppose any bill that approves Keystone XL while the State Department is still conducting its review of the project. Republicans, however, argue that more than six years of reviewing the pipeline is enough time for the Obama administration to make a decision.

“This is the most federally reviewed pipeline in American history,” Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly said on the House floor Wednesday. “This is an American issue. Majority of the American people support this… It’s way past time to say yes.”

The Senate passed the Keystone bill in late January with the support of nine Democratic senators. The passage of the bill by the House means it will now head to Obama’s desk where he is likely to issue a veto.

Canadian pipeline company TransCanada applied for a presidential permit to build Keystone XL in 2008. The project would carry oil sands from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast — the most refinery-rich region of the country.

Environmentalists argue that Keystone XL would result in oil spills and exacerbate global warming as more oil is extracted from Alberta. The EPA has even criticized the pipeline, saying it would emit the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions as “7.8 coal fired power plants.”

EPA also said low oil prices mean that Keystone XL will be responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than the State Department initially predicted in its review of the pipeline. The agency said “construction of the pipeline is projected to change the economics of oil sands development and result in increased oil sands production, and the accompanying greenhouse gas emissions, over what would otherwise occur [without the pipeline].”

“There should be no more doubt that President Obama must reject the proposed pipeline once and for all,” Danielle Droitsch with the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a statement. “If built, it would transport Canadian tar sands oil – the dirtiest fuel on the planet – through America’s heartland, only to be refined and then shipped abroad.”

The southern leg of Keystone XL has been built and is already in operation, but the northern leg that crosses the Canadian border is still awaiting for a presidential permit from the Obama administration.

Pipeline supporters say the pipeline will have no environmental impact and increase energy independence. Supporters also argue constructing the pipeline will create thousands of jobs.

Obama, however, has said Keystone’s approval will not hinge on its economic benefits, but instead will hinge on how much the project impacts global warming. Environmentalists argue it will harm the climate while proponents say it will not.

If Obama does veto Keystone, he may be in for a rough couple of years. Republicans have put forward an energy agenda that pushes streamlined permitting for projects like Keystone XL as well as natural gas export terminals.

“Our energy realities have changed dramatically – we’ve gone from bust to boom practically overnight,” GOP Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan Ed Whitfield of Kentucky said in a statement. “Today’s energy policies are lagging far behind, and are better suited for the gas lines in the 1970s than this new era of abundance.”

Follow Michael on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel