The Keystone XL pipeline officially has one less hoop to jump through before it paves the way across the United States from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
A Nebraska Supreme Court finally decided Friday that the route for the pipeline can be constructed across the state. The state court had been debating the issue since February, specifically focusing on whether or not the governor of Nebraska has the power to authorize the construction of the pipeline’s route.
Alas, the decision to build the pipeline now rests solely in Washington, and President Obama increasingly appears to be the only one there pushing against the idea of approving the pipeline’s construction.
“It’s time to start building,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in response to the Nebraska ruling.
Amazingly enough, just hours after the Nebraska court decision, the House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline with bipartisan support in a vote 266-153.
The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to take up similar legislation soon.
However, the White House insists that Obama will veto such legislation should it make its way to the Oval Office. The president wants to wait to make a decision on the $7.6 billion project until the State Department determines whether the pipeline will have an overall positive impact on the country by evaluating its potential economic and environmental implications.
“As we have made clear, we are going to let that process play out,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz explained Friday. “Regardless of the Nebraska ruling today, the House bill still conflicts with longstanding Executive branch procedures regarding the authority of the president and prevents the thorough consideration of complex issues that could bear on U.S. national interests, and if presented to the president, he will veto the bill.”
Earlier this week prior to the Nebraska ruling, White House press secretary Josh Earnest insisted that Obama would veto the Keystone bill.
Back in December during his end-of-the-year press conference, Obama waxed skeptical on the potential benefits offered by the pipeline.
“I think that there’s been this tendency to really hype this thing as some magic formula to what ails the U.S. economy,” he said.
The pipeline would stretch 1,700 miles long, carrying 830,000 barrels of oil daily into the U.S. from Canada.
