House approves Keystone bill, as court ruling delivers win to pipeline backers
House approves Keystone bill, as court ruling delivers win to pipeline backers
Let's try to keep this discussion civil please...thanks!
The House easily approved a bill on Friday to authorize construction of the Keystone pipeline, just hours after Nebraska's highest court tossed a lawsuit challenging the route -- increasing pressure on President Obama to authorize the long-delayed project.
The House approved the bill on a 266-153 vote, with 28 Democrats joining majority Republicans in voting for it.The Senate is set to consider the legislation next week, and sponsors say it has more than enough support to pass.
But the White House has said Obama will veto the bill. And even though the Nebraska court case was one of the reasons the administration was reluctant to act, the ruling earlier Friday did little to change the president's position on the bill.
Spokesman Eric Schultz said the State Department will review the court's decision, but "as we have made clear, we are going to let that process play out." He said regardless of the ruling, the House bill still conflicts with presidential authority and the review process.
"If presented to the president, he will veto the bill," Schultz said.
The developments Friday set Congress on a collision course with the White House in a matter of days, with pipeline supporters only more energized thanks to the Nebraska ruling.
"President Obama is out of excuses for deciding whether or not to allow thousands of Americans to get back to work," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement, urging Obama to reverse his veto threat in light of the court decision.
Earlier, in a victory for pipeline backers, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that three landowners who sued failed to show they had legal standing to bring their case.
The closely watched Nebraska Supreme Court decision could remove a major roadblock for the $7 billion cross-continental project, which would run from Canada to Texas. Obama has long opposed moving forward on the project, citing both the Nebraska lawsuit and a State Department review process.
While the White House made clear Friday they would continue to wait for the State Department review, the Nebraska court decision left pro-pipeline lawmakers quickly losing patience with the administration given the years-long delay.
"The president has been hiding behind the Nebraska court case to block this critical jobs project. With that contrived roadblock cleared, the White House is now out of excuses, and out of time," House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said.
Industry groups and the Canadian government also cast the decision as an opening for the State Department and the president to move forward.
"President Obama has no more excuses left to delay or deny the Keystone XL pipeline," American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said in a statement.
The ruling Friday was a split decision. Four judges on the seven-judge court agreed that the plaintiffs did have legal standing, but because the case raised a constitutional question, a super-majority of five judges was needed.
"The legislation must stand by default," the court said in the opinion.
The lawsuit challenged a 2012 state law that allowed the governor to empower Calgary-based TransCanada to force eastern Nebraska landowners to sell their property for the project.
A lower court had sided with the landowners, who said that power resided with the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which regulates pipelines and other utilities.
The proposed 1,179-mile pipeline would carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma along the way.
The pipeline needs presidential approval because it would cross the U.S.-Canada border.
While the new GOP-controlled Congress has made approving the pipeline a first order of business, a presidential veto on their legislation would leave Republicans scrambling to either muster a bipartisan, two-thirds majority to override -- or take a different approach by attaching the Keystone measure to some other piece of legislation.
Senate sponsors made clear that, at this stage, they don't yet have a veto-proof majority. And on the House side, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi claimed her caucus could sustain a presidential veto.Indeed, the lawmakers voting for the Keystone bill in the House on Friday did not constitute a veto-proof majority.
But the court decision could fuel GOP critics urging Obama to reconsider. The $5.4 billion project, which would move tar sands oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries, was first proposed in 2008.
Environmentalists and other opponents argue that any leaks could contaminate water supplies, and that the project would increase air pollution around refineries and harm wildlife. But the GOP, oil industry and other backers say those fears are exaggerated, and that the pipeline would create jobs and ease American dependence on oil from the Middle East. They note a U.S. State Department report raised no major environmental objections.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman opposed TransCanada's original proposed route that crossed the environmentally sensitive Sandhills region, but he approved the project in 2012 after the company altered the pipeline's path to avoid the Sandhills. Heineman noted that the proposal was reviewed by the Department of Environmental Quality, which is part of his administration http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/09/nebraska-high-court-tosses-suit-over-keystone-pipeline-route/
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But the White House has said Obama will veto the bill. And even though the Nebraska court case was one of the reasons the administration was reluctant to act, the ruling earlier Friday did little to change the president's position on the bill.
Native American government-to-government consultation has not been taken - violation of 42 federal laws.
Canada has no "authority" to "tell" U. S. landowners that they MUST sell or have their property taken through imminent domain.
As Raven sez - 50 full time jobs does not make this a viable project for "jobs-jobs-jobs". It's all about money in the pocket.
The land owners do have standing under four fed laws "if" they can show environmental harm, human safety and health concerns, diminishment of personal economics and potential for degradation of property - items that the Nebraska SC failed to take into consideration.
Obama needs to follow through with his "threat". The over-ruling of the veto by Congress will never happen.
Having been a opponent of this pipeline, the fact it passed the House today with 28 Democrats hopping on board should have people screaming. Are they? I've just finished screaming to the DNC, the DCC and any other Dem organization I'm affiliated with. Are Republicans who oppose this project screaming, I don't even hear a whisper.
I'll be thrilled to send a case of veto pens to D.C.
1st, do you think Obama should veto?
Absolutely and he also needs to rescind the Executive Order pushing green energy with no environmental checks.
MM, perhaps a "veto pen" campaign is in order! Imagine thousands of people sending a box of pens each to the White House
If the Presidents ends up with left overs they can go to local schools.
What a brilliant idea!! Thanks guys!!!
A pox on both their houses!