Thread: Keystone XL pipeline bill clears Senate hurdle despite veto threat

Four States Eye Substantial Tax Windfall from Keystone XL Pipeline Approval

Eric Pianin
Monday, 12 Jan 2015 | 10:57 AM ET Fiscal Times

The Senate this week will begin debating legislation to circumvent President Obama and authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline following approval of the same measure in the House on Friday.

The House's 266 to 153 vote left the lower chamber well short of the 290 votes needed to override Obama's threatened veto of the bill. But the vote put Obama under added pressure from the new Republican majority in Congress and some Democrats to eventually approve the $8 billion pipeline project that emerged as an important issue during the 2014 mid-term election campaign.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Weld inspector Shayne Walker fills out paperwork during construction of the Gulf Coast Project pipeline in Prague, Okla., as part of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project.

Moreover, some GOP lawmakers see political value in forcing the president to follow through on his promise to veto the legislation and further delay a final decision on a high profile energy project that enjoys the support of 60 percent to 70 percent of Americans.

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), whose state stands to benefit from the pipeline construction, told Fox News last week that if Congress is unable to override the veto, "I think it's pretty clear to the public and everybody else that the president is the obstructionist, not the Congress."
More from The Fiscal Times:

Keystone XL Pipeline: No Oil, Plenty of Propaganda
Why the Keystone XL Pipeline Is Already Dead
A Day of Hollow Victories on the Keystone XL Front

Much of the focus of the debate, not surprisingly, has been on the potential environmental and economic impact of the massive construction project that would carry 83,000 barrels of oil a day—especially on how many jobs it would generate.

Conservative lawmakers, energy industry officials and labor unions seeking approval of the plan claim it would create 42,000 temporary jobs and spur economic growth throughout the Midwest and Southwest regions. The proposed pipeline route would snake its way from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, southwest to the oil refineries and ports of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Democrats and environmentalists who oppose the project fear it could add to global warming and insist that proponents have grossly exaggerated the economic benefits. They cite a U.S. State Department study showing that only 3,900 of the 42,000 projected jobs would be in construction, and that once the project was completed, there would be only 35 permanent positions.

Read More Spillover effect of cheap oil: Bankruptcy shock

The State Department report also estimated that the construction project would contribute about $3.4 billion to the American economy, according to The New York Times.

For the states of Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas—which together constitute the pipeline's north to south route—there are also tens of millions of dollars in potential property, sales and excise taxes at stake that have received little attention until now. A new study by the Tax Foundation—based on data contained in the State Department's massive analysis of the proposed pipeline project—spells out the specific tax benefits.

"Regardless of your opinion on the Keystone Pipeline, there is no doubt that the project would have state and local tax impacts, during both initial construction and post-constructions," said Liz Malm, an economist with Tax Foundation, a leading independent tax policy research organization. "From my perspective, I think it's always important to remember that federal law and legislation usually has a state and local budget impact."

The tax benefits would be relatively modest throughout the two-year construction phase but would increase substantially once crude oil begins coursing through the 875 miles of pipeline.

Read MoreCramer: 'Get negative on everything' oil

Pipeline construction within the U.S. would begin on the northern border of Montana, continue southeast through that state, then go on to South Dakota and Nebraska where it would terminate on Nebraska's border with Kansas.

According to the State Department analysis, property taxes collected as a result of eight construction camps that would be built by the construction company to house their crews would amount to just $4 million for seven impacted counties. However, the states would collect other sales and fuel taxes levied on goods and services during the construction period to supplement their revenues further.

Once the project was completed, however, the State Department has estimated that local governments would collect a total of $55.6 million a year in property taxes—a tidy windfall for many county governments, school districts and other taxing entities. Montana would collect roughly half that total each year, according to the State Department, followed by South Dakota with $17.9 million and Nebraska with $11.8 million annually.

Ironically, last Friday's House vote came on the same day that the Nebraska Supreme Court cleared the way for construction by ruling against landowners who charged that a state law approving construction of the pipeline was unconstitutional.

The White House had been using the pending lawsuit as one of its reasons for opposing congressional action forcing the approval of the pipeline. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and other GOP lawmakers declared immediately that there was no excuse for the administration to wait any longer to rule on TransCanada's six-year-old permit application to construct the pipeline through this country.

"Finally, it's time to start building," Boehner said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102329655#.

State Department moves toward Keystone decision, sets deadline for agencies’ input

Published January 17, 2015 FoxNews.com



NOW PLAYINGAmericans increasingly want Obama to sign Keystone bill
The State Department took a big step Friday toward making a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, setting a Feb. 2 deadline for federal agencies to give their views on the controversial project.

Fox News has learned eight agencies have been asked to provide their views. The State Department has been wading through a review process for months and in setting a deadline, signaled it was preparing to make a final decision.

That is important because the White House had said previously that it was waiting for the agency to conclude its probe before President Obama decides whether to support the project.

But the Feb. 2 date does not necessarily mean anything will be announced at that time.

The State Department is involved in the Keystone decision because the pipeline stretches through both the U.S. and Canada.

Last week, the House passed a bill authorizing construction on the pipeline, but the White House said Obama, citing the State Department's pending review, would veto the legislation were it to pass the Republican-controlled Senate. It's not clear if Republicans and a handful of Democrats have the required 67 votes to override a potential Obama veto.

The House vote came on the same day in which the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that three landowners who sued failed to show they had legal standing to bring their case, a victory for pipeline backers.

Also on Friday, opponents of the pipeline in Nebraska filed two new lawsuits over the proposed route after the state's Supreme Court recently tossed a previous legal challenge.

Landowners in Holt and York counties filed the suits against pipeline developer TransCanada to stop the Canadian company from using eminent domain power to gain access to their land.

Their attorney, Dave Domina, says the lawsuits closely resemble the claim the court dismissed. But he says this time all of the landowners have legal standing to bring the case.

That's important, because three judges last time said the landowners lacked standing. Four of the court's seven judges declared the law unconstitutional, but five were required.

The lawsuits seek to overturn a law that allowed former Gov. Dave Heineman to approve the route.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...cmp=latestnews

Keystone News Unsurprising After Harper Wrecked Canada's Relationship With The U.S.

Posted: 01/07/2015 2:58 pm EST Updated: 01/07/2015 4:59 pm EST

• 

If revenge is indeed a dish that's best served cold, the President of Cool just served up a four-star pièce de résistance for Stephen Harper.

Tuesday's announcement of Obama's planned veto of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline should not have been surprising, yet when the blow came it carried a shocking intensity.

And how did things go so badly that Canada doesn't have the heft or goodwill in Washington to add a single pipeline to a nation benoodled with them? The answer lies in the delusional hubris of Stephen Harper.

No close watcher of the president should be surprised. In myriad ways, the prime minister's personal ambition shredded our nation's single most important relationship and drew us into the toxic swamp of Washington's poisonous politics.
It's been going on for years.

In early 2008, during the heat of the U.S. primary season, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) leaked a highly confidential communication by the Obama campaign to the benefit of the Republican Party. While no culprit was ever found, speculation fell on the Canadian embassy in Washington, and the 27-year-old son of a Republican congressman who'd been installed there at the behest of the PMO and Stockwell Day.

Unfortunately for Harper, the young candidate Obama overcame the Republican trap laid for him, displaying a masterful command of politics and the art of rope-a-dope. Wiser heads might have been chastened by that experience, and taken heed of the new president's admonition that "elections have consequences," and wiser heads might have considered the damage done to Canada when our PMO's confidentiality isn't trusted.

But wiser heads would not have been so intoxicated by a vision of Canada as a 21st-century energy superpower.
Harper's unbending ambition set him on collision course with a president intent to act on climate change. For anyone watching closely, all the signals were there that Obama would turn to the environment as a major pillar of his legacy.

So it was a foolish miscalculation for Harper to turn Canada and the oilsands into an international symbol of climate obstinacy. But that's a fight he picked. Not content to simply promote the Canadian energy industry and accommodate international pressure for action on the climate, Harper raised the stakes by muzzling scientists and launching an an all-out vendetta on prominent conservation groups.

And while the PM maintained a rigid stance on climate change policy abroad, his proxies at home unleashed a campaign to single out and vilify some of America's and the world's most illustrious scientific research foundations, governed by people like Bush's White House director of science and technology policy, the provost of Harvard, Stanford dean of law and the like.

There probably isn't a more effective way to become an international pariah than the path chosen by Stephen Harper.
But that's only part of the story. In the autumn of 2012, with America in full campaign mode, it was Benjamin Netanyahu's turn to "blatantly interfere" in the election on behalf of Republican candidate Mitt Romney's financier Sheldon Adelson, which he did by single-handedly making war with Iran an election issue.

The U.S. Republicans are certainly refining their game of luring foreign allies into meddling in American elections against their own interests. The 2012 Netanyahu war maneuver was a major step up on the 2008 Harper PMO leak.

In September 2013, Harper travelled to New York to pointedly skip (again) the opening session of the UN General Assembly, but make a high-profile appearance to lecture Obama in his backyard that Canada "would not take no for an answer" on Keystone. What does that even mean?

Yet just months later, in early January 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry was in Israel on a delicate mission to restart talks with the Palestinians. Because the State Department also has management of the Keystone file, John Kerry was important to Canada. But no sooner had Kerry left Israel than Netanyahu caused an uproar by unilaterally approving annexation of another settlement block in Palestinian lands.

By sheer coincidence, Harper arrived on Kerry's heels to serenade Netanyahu with a Beatles song, pick up an honorary degree, and rise in the Knesset to equate criticism of Israel's policies with anti-Semitism.
Translation: the White House can stuff it.

It's nothing short of bizarre that Harper publicly dissed the U.S. cabinet minister in charge of the Keystone file at the same time he's hounding the U.S. for a favourable outcome. That's not diplomacy -- it's not even manners. And something's very unsettling about both leaders' connections with the Republican party and their peculiar tag-team with each other. If Barack Obama views Harper with suspicion, it's for good reason.

All this drama made a shambles of Canada's primary international relationship, which will always be with the White House.
Yet when Obama's new ambassador to Ottawa, Bruce Heyman, was "welcomed" at his first major public appearance, he was bluntly confronted over Keystone. Meanwhile, Harper blanketed Washington with a $24-million ad campaign to persuade Americans that we deserve the Keystone pipeline because we're such good allies, while giving speeches about the craziness of acting on climate change.
In reality, Canadian interests, our industry, and our environment would all be so much further ahead today had Harper adopted a responsible approach to climate change and a coherent strategy to win support from the White House.

That $24 million was all for naught. There was really only one man on the planet that Stephen Harper ever had to persuade to vote yes on Keystone. But pride goeth before destruction, as they say.
Rope-a-dope indeed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/sandy-garossino/keystone-pipeline-harper-obama_b_6427762.html

Senate rejects effort to ban Keystone XL-pipeline exports

By DINA CAPPIELLO 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday rejected Democrats' bids to ban exports from the Keystone XL oil pipeline and to require building the project with American-made steel.

Related Stories

1. White House says it will veto bill to approve oil pipeline Associated Press
2. Senate panel approves Keystone bill despite veto threat Associated Press
3. U.S. House passes Keystone XL bill, Senate to debate next week Reuters
4. In court and Congress, Obama's resistance to pipeline tested Associated Press
5. Keystone XL clears hurdle in Senate despite Obama veto threat Reuters

In largely party-line votes, the Senate sidetracked the first two additions to a bill seeking to approve construction of the 1,179 pipeline. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota argued that their additions would ensure that the pipeline, which will carry an estimated 800,000 barrels of oil from the Canadian tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries, will benefit Americans with fuel and jobs.

"Proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline have made promises that it would increase our energy security, but when they are given the chance to support keeping that oil in the United States, they actively oppose my amendment to do so," Markey said.

But Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said such restrictions on a privately-funded energy project amounted to a "slippery slope."

The Senate overwhelmingly endorsed a bipartisan measure to boost energy efficiency.

The Keystone XL oil pipeline is the top priority on the Republican agenda this Congress. Democrats hope to use the legislation to score political points on key issues associated with the project, including its contribution to global warming. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island outlined Tuesday an eight-word measure that says: "Climate change is real and not a hoax."
View gallery

FILE - In this Jan 15, 2015 file photo, attorney Dave Domina, reflected in the mirror top left, brie …

But none of the measures are likely to sway more Democrats to vote for the bill. At a press conference Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he also does not expect the amendments to inspire President Barack Obama to withdraw his veto threat and sign the pipeline bill into law.

As the Senate was debating, the pipeline's developer, TransCanada Corp. moved Tuesday to seize access to the Nebraska land it needs to finish the $8 billion project — the first steps it's taken since the state's high court removed a major legal barrier.

Murkowski said that as of last week, 50 amendments had been filed.

http://news.yahoo.com/senate-rejects...213417728.html

Keystone Pipeline Bill Stalls in Senate, Prolonging Debate

Republicans Can’t Amass 60 Votes Needed to End Debate


Some of more than 350 miles of pipe awaiting shipment for the Keystone XL oil pipeline is stored at Welspun Tubular, in Little Rock, Ark. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

By SIOBHAN HUGHES And
AMY HARDER

Jan. 26, 2015 7:12 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The Senate on Monday rejected a procedural motion to advance legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, prolonging the chamber’s debate over the project.

Amid a partisan fight over congressional procedure and absences due to weather and other conflicts, Senate Republican leaders couldn’t amass the 60 votes needed to end debate on the bill and move toward a final vote on approving the pipeline. The procedural vote was 53-39.

While enough Senate Democrats support the pipeline to clear the 60-vote hurdle, several of them are fuming over a decision last week by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) to vote against taking up Democratic amendments and to prevent Democrats from delivering one-minute floor speeches on their amendments.

Their effort to defeat the motion was helped by absences among some members who probably would have voted for it.

The Senate is now expected to continue working on the bill this week, with more amendment votes, and a final passage vote isn’t expected until early next week at the earliest. The legislation has 60 co-sponsors, including six Democrats, so once both parties agree on how to move forward on the procedure, it is expected to pass and eventually reach President Barack Obama ’s desk. The Senate bill is nearly identical to one passed by the House earlier this month.

Keystone XL, a TransCanada Corp. project, would move as many as 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada’s oil sands to Steele City, Neb., where it would connect with existing pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries. TransCanada first submitted its permit application in 2008 to the State Department, which oversees cross-border pipelines. The pipeline has become a proxy for a much broader debate over the economy and Mr. Obama’s efforts to address climate change.

The White House, citing a continuing review process by the State Department over the pipeline, has said Mr. Obama would veto the Senate bill. Neither the House nor the Senate is expected to have enough votes to override such a veto.

The Democratic anger erupted last week over the amendment process. Mr. McConnell had already allowed votes on several Democratic amendments, including votes on climate change that were politically uncomfortable for Republicans.

But Democrats wanted more time to offer additional amendments, and their leaders were successful in rallying even some Keystone supporters to vote against the procedural motion as a protest against Mr. McConnell, saying he wasn't fulfilling his promise to open up the Senate floor to a debate over a broad range of amendments.

Republicans say Democrats had plenty of opportunity to offer their amendments and had taken advantage of it last week with votes on amendments covering a number of energy-related topics.

“This is really disappointing,” Mr. McConnell said, saying that Democratic complaints were misleading and that the Senate had already had more amendment votes on one bill than the Senate had all of last year.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), who opposes the pipeline, said five Democrats who had asked to speak for one minute “were told sit down; we’re gagging you.”

“This has been anything but an open amendment process,” she said on the Senate floor Monday shortly before voting no.

Write to Siobhan Hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com and Amy Harder at amy.harder@wsj.com

http://www.wsj.com/articles/keystone...ate-1422317530

Keystone backers predict final U.S. Senate passage by weekend

By Kathleen Hunter, Bloomberg News |
January 27, 2015 3:49 PM ET

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Senator Mitch McConnell, incoming majority leader, has vowed to make Keystone the first bill passed in 2015.

The U.S. Senate is on track to pass legislation to approve TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline by the end of the week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

The Keystone legislation stalled in the Senate on Monday as Democrats raised objections about the number of amendments they’ve been allowed to offer.

The bill’s chief sponsor, North Dakota Republican John Hoeven, said Republicans were working with Democrats to develop a list of amendments in hopes of moving the bill forward.

“We’re just trying right now to get votes going on amendments,” Hoeven told reporters at the Capitol. He said it was “definitely realistic” to complete work on the bill this week.

South Dakota Senator John Thune, the chamber’s third- ranking Republican, said, “I think so,” when asked if he was confident the bill would pass by the end of the week.

Republicans control the Senate 54-46. Because six Democrats have signed on as sponsors of the Keystone bill, there are expected to be enough votes for passage though not the two- thirds margin required to override a veto from President Barack Obama.

Supporters said they think they can still amass the votes for passage, even though they didn’t get the 60 votes needed for two procedural votes Monday. Several of the bill’s backers missed the vote and a few Democratic proponents voted no because of the dispute over amendments.

‘Now Time’
“It’s now time to get through the remaining amendments and vote up or down on the bill,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said earlier Tuesday on the Senate floor.

Two weeks ago, enough Democrats joined the majority Republicans to move the bill forward.

Democrats have accused McConnell of backing off his promise to allow both parties a chance to offer wide-ranging amendments to the bill. Republicans have pointed out that the Senate has voted on two dozen amendments — more than were voted on in all of 2014 under Democratic control of the Senate.

“Senator McConnell promised Democrats an open amendment process and a full-throated debate on the Keystone pipeline, and we are holding him to that promise,” said New York Senator Charles Schumer, the chamber’s third-ranking Democrat.

‘Muzzle’ Debate
Schumer accused McConnell of “trying to muzzle the debate.”

Backers of the pipeline say it will provide jobs and promote U.S. energy independence. Opponents say the project will create few permanent jobs, won’t boost domestic energy security and would pose environmental hazards.

Even Democratic opponents of the measure said they thought it would eventually pass.

Illinois Senator Richard Durbin, the chamber’s second- ranking Democrat, said he told McConnell before Monday’s vote that Democrats want to “work together on a bipartisan basis.”

“Let’s do this in a conscientious, good-faith effort to complete this bill, and I think we can achieve it,” Durbin said he told McConnell.

The project would connect to an existing pipeline network, linking oil sands in Alberta, Canada, with U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

http://business.financialpost.com/20...ge-by-weekend/

7:28 am ET
Jan 29, 2015

Vote on Keystone Pipeline Bill Expected in Senate Today

• By AMY HARDER

Some of more than 350 miles of pipe awaiting shipment for the Keystone XL oil pipeline is stored at Welspun Tubular, in Little Rock, Ark. Associated Press

The long-running debate over the Keystone XL pipeline that has dominated the Senate floor for more than two weeks is expected to come to a close today.

The chamber is slated to vote on final passage of legislation approving the contentious oil pipeline later today, sending the bill to President Barack Obama. The president has said he would veto it, citing a review at the State Department over the project that’s been underway for more than six years.

With at least 60 senators co-sponsoring the bill and another three Democrats indicating they will support it, the measure is expected to pass, though supporters don’t have enough votes to override a presidential veto, which requires 67 votes.

More In Senate

• Senate Bill Would Lift Curbs on Travel to Cuba
• 'I Am Not Holder,' Lynch Tells Senate at AG Confirmation Hearing
• Elizabeth Warren Gets Bigger Senate Platform for Her Populist Message
• Tom Steyer Declines to Run for California Senate Seat
• Keystone Debate: Senate Votes on Dueling Climate Change Amendments

Despite Mr. Obama’s veto threat, the Senate has spent the better part of this month debating and voting on dozens of amendments that have reflected many aspects of the nation’s energy and climate landscape, including climate change, natural-gas exports and renewable energy.

The Senate will vote on several more amendments today and then will cast a procedural vote to end debate in the afternoon, which will require 60 votes. The vote on final passage, expected to occur in the afternoon, will require a simple majority of 51 senators.

Most of the amendments haven’t received enough support to be attached to the bill, but at least four did as of this morning, including one declaring climate change is real and two promoting energy efficiency.

The House passed legislation approving the pipeline earlier this month, but since the Senate version that’s expected to pass includes additional amendments, congressional leaders from both chambers are discussing how to reconcile the two measures, according to a House GOP aide.

This could include going to a bicameral conference to agree on one piece of legislation—something this gridlocked Congress has rarely done in recent years—or the House could approve the Senate’s version, an approach Senate leaders would prefer.

The chambers are expected to reconcile the measures quickly though, and the legislation could reach Mr. Obama’s desk within days. The White House said earlier this month it would veto the bill because it would interfere with the State Department’s ongoing review process.

Keystone XL, a TransCanada Corp. project, would move as many as 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada’s oil sands to Steele City, Neb., where it would connect with existing pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries. TransCanada first submitted its permit application in 2008 to the State Department, which oversees cross-border pipelines. The pipeline has become a proxy for a much broader debate over the economy and Mr. Obama’s efforts to address climate change.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/0...-senate-today/

Senate advances Keystone pipeline despite veto threat

Paul Singer, USA TODAY
1:34 p.m. EST January 29, 2015


(Photo: Jose Luis Magana, AP)


The Senate voted Thursday to push ahead with legislation to build the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, despite a long-standing veto threat from the White House.

After more than two weeks of debate on numerous amendments, the Senate cleared a key hurdle with a 62-35 vote Thursday to complete work on legislation approving the north-south pipeline for Canadian oil that Republicans advocated as a way to create thousands of U.S. jobs. The vote exceeded the 60-vote threshold needed to cut off additional debate on the bill and set up the Senate to pass the bill later in the day. But the tally was short of the 67 votes the Senate would need to override a presidential veto.

Nine Democrats joined a unanimous Republican caucus to support the bill: Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tom Carper of Delaware, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana and Mark Warner of Virginia.

Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged his colleagues to pass the measure. "Constructing Keystone would pump billions into our economy. It would support thousands of good American jobs," he said. "And as the president's own State Department has indicated, it would do this with minimal environmental impact."

McConnell said the conclusion of myriad studies is: "We need to build it."

After the vote, he added, "We're hoping the president, upon reflection, will read and sign a bill that the State Department says could create 42,000 jobs."

The House passed a similar bill Jan. 9 — the 10th time the House has passed such legislation — the but since the Senate bill has been amended, the two chambers will have to agree on one version before the bill goes to the president.

USA TODAY House approves Keystone pipeline for 10th time

The bill essentially closes the environmental review process that has been underway at the State Department; the White House has opposed various versions of the bill because President Obama has said the administration's review process should be allowed to play out.

"This Keystone project is undergoing review at the State Department," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Wednesday. "That is a process that long predates this administration. So we are opposed to any legislative maneuver that would circumvent that process."

Democrats have objected to the Keystone bill in part because of arguments that it will increase the use of Canadian oil sands, which environmental groups say would increase carbon emissions and speed climate change.

USA TODAY Nebraska court removes Keystone pipeline roadblock

USA TODAY Fact check: Competing Keystone claims

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., told senators Thursday they should instead adopt standards for energy companies to use renewable fuels in generating electricity. Udall argued that the Keystone pipeline would produce a short-term burst of construction jobs, but once it is built, " the permanent jobs are in the range of 50."

The vote is a big win for Louisiana lawmakers. Before December's Senate runoff in that state, the two candidates, incumbent Democratic senator Mary Landrieu and her challenger, GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy, both pushed bills to approve the pipeline. The House approved Cassidy's bill, but the Senate defeated Landrieu's and he went on to take her Senate seat in the election.

Indicating the importance Republicans have placed on the Keystone bill, they assigned it bill number S. 1, the first bill of the new GOP-controlled Senate.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...veto/22521107/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...cmp=latestnews

This says US Senate passes Keystone XL Pipeline bill, 62 to 36 instead of 62 to 35.

House vote on Keystone approval set next week

By Timothy Cama - 02/03/15 10:55 AM EST

The House will vote next week on the Senate’s bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced the scheduled vote to reporters on Tuesday, days after the Senate approved the bill.

The House easily passed similar legislation in January. But the Senate added a number of amendments, necessitating another House vote.Those amendments include a nonbinding statement that climate change is real, an energy-efficiency measure for buildings and schools and an amendment related to the oil-spill trust fund.

McCarthy did not provide a specific day for the vote on the controversial oil pipeline, planned by TransCanada Corp. to run from Canada’s oil sands to the Gulf Coast.

“Passing this measure will send the bill right to the president’s desk after years of uncertainty and delay,” McCarthy said in a statement.

“Finally, we will know if the president will side with American jobs and North American energy security or not. I hope that the president will look at how Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass this bill and will reconsider his veto threat.”

President Obama has criticized Congress’s attempts to legislate on Keystone, maintaining that it is solely his responsibility to approve or deny the pipeline.

The White House threatened early in January to veto the bill if it reaches Obama’s desk.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-env...tone-next-week