WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a bipartisan bill, S.1, to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline, defying a presidential veto threat and setting up the first of many battles with the White House over energy and the environment, said the Associated Press.
The 62-to-36 vote advanced a top priority Republicans who now control the Senate, and marked the first time the Senate passed a bill authorizing the pipeline, despite numerous attempts to force President Barack Obama's hand on the issue. Nine Democrats joined with 53 Republicans to back the measure.
This bill "is an important accomplishment for the country," said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "We are hoping the president upon reflection will agree to sign on to a bill that the State Department said could create up to 42,000 jobs and the State Department said creates little to no impact on the environment."
The vote was short of the threshold needed to override a veto, and the legislation still must be reconciled with the version the House passed.
"We hope President Obama will now drop his threat to veto this common-sense bill that would strengthen our energy security and create thousands and thousands of new, good-paying American jobs," said House Speaker John Boehner.
Most Democrats framed the bill as a gift to a foreign oil company that would have little benefit for the American people, because much of the oil would be exported. They tried and failed to get amendments on the bill to construct the pipeline with U.S. steel, ban exports of the oil and the products refined from it and protect water resources.
The Senate agreed to add an energy efficiency measure, and went on the record saying climate change was not a hoax and the oil sands should be subject to a tax that helps pay for oil spill cleanups. Oil sands are currently exempt.
"This bill is a disgrace," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate environment committee. "We tried on our side to make this a better bill and they turned us away."
TransCanada Corp., the pipeline's developer, disputed the export argument Thursday, saying it didn't make sense.
"Those who argue this pipeline is for export are not being factual," said Russ Girling, president and CEO of TransCanada. "It's time to approve Keystone XL so we can transport Canadian and American oil to fuel the everyday lives of the American people."
First proposed in 2008, the $8-billion pipeline project has been beset by delays in Nebraska over its route and at the White House, where the president has resisted prior efforts by Congress to force him to make a decision. In 2012, Obama rejected the project after Congress attached a measure to a payroll tax cut extension that gave him a deadline to make a decision. The pipeline's developer, TransCanada Corp., then reapplied.
The 1,179-mile pipeline is proposed to go from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the Texas Gulf coast.
Click here to view the roll call on S.1.
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