The House approved legislation authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline by 266-153 vote, just hours after the Nebraska Supreme Court gave the OK to the 1,700-mile pipeline running through its state.
While Congress is moving on legislation — the Senate will begin debate on a similar bill Monday — the Nebraska ruling puts the spotlight on the Obama administration, which had held up a federal review as it awaited that decision from the Cornhusker State.
“President Obama is now out of excuses for blocking the Keystone pipeline and the thousands of American jobs it would create. Finally, it’s time to start building,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
President Obama had halted the 90-day interagency review of the State Department’s final environmental impact statement while Nebraska’s high court sorted out whether a 2012 law approving TransCanada Corp.’s proposed alternate pipeline route was constitutional.
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling applauded the Nebraska ruling, as he hoped it would speed the end of a federal review that’s lasted more than six years. He said hoped the interagency review would resume where it left off, which he estimated was two-thirds of the way through the process.
While Girling said the process is playing out at the White House, he said he understood why Congress would push ahead with legislation even under threat of veto from the president.
“[Congressional supporters’] hope is the process can continue on and that we can get a timely decision from the regulatory process,” said in a call with reporters. “But I think there is skepticism … of potential for further delay.”
The White House had pointed to the outstanding Nebraska court case when it issued the veto threat Tuesday. It also said the State Department should be allowed to finish its review of an application for a cross-border permit to finish Keystone XL’s northern leg.
Republicans on Capitol Hill said the Obama administration has had plenty of time to evaluate the project. They said the White House should act on the Canada-to-Gulf Coast project now that the Nebraska high court has given it the OK.
“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,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.
That Obama issued a veto threat gave solace to pipeline opponents. They said they expected the House to approve it and called the Nebraska ruling a setback, but said they thought Obama would scrap the pipeline.
“This court ruling does not change the fact that Congress is pushing legislation to force approval of a dirty, dangerous project that attacks the president’s longstanding authority. Ultimately, the president has all the evidence he needs to reject Keystone XL now, and we are confident that he will,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said.
Some congressional Democrats who oppose Keystone XL said they weren’t sure how Obama would ultimately side on the pipeline, but remained hopeful given the veto threat.
“The more we have these kind of votes, the more that his authority is challenged, the more it becomes a yes or no proposition. And I think that this action — I don’t know what the president is going to do — but this action adds more to a rejection than it does to an approval,” Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., told the Washington Examiner.
Obama has said he would reject the pipeline if it “significantly exacerbates the problem of carbon pollution.” The State Department has concluded it would not greatly affect climate change, as it concluded oil sands would be shipped to the market with or without the $8 billion pipeline.
But the president has spoken critically of the project in recent comments. He has downplayed the jobs it would create — 42,100 temporary jobs during a two-year construction period and 35 permanent posts, according to the State Department — and echoed opponents’ arguments that the crude oil that Keystone XL would export is destined for foreign markets.
“It’s good for Canada, it could create a couple thousand jobs in the initial construction of the pipeline. But we’ve got to measure that against whether or not it is going to contribute to an overall warming of the planet that could be disastrous,” Obama said last month on “The Colbert Report.”
While the House bill passed easily, the Senate bill has a tougher road.
The legislation has 60 co-sponsors and potentially 63 members who would vote for it in its current form. But it’s not clear whether the upper chamber can find 67 votes to override a veto.
Senate Republicans and centrist Democrats who support the pipeline say they won’t take no for an answer. Sen. John Hoeven has said he would wrap Keystone XL authorization into larger energy legislation or a spending bill that Obama might sign.
“It may come back and we have to attach to other legislation or an appropriation measure,” the North Dakota Republican said at a press conference earlier this week.
