The House is poised to vote again today to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, this time with the promise of a Senate vote next week as Republicans and Democrats seek advantage in a runoff for the country’s last undecided U.S. Senate seat.
As Bloomberg reports, during debate before today’s House vote on the last leg of the $8 billion pipeline, Republicans asserted that the project will add jobs while Democrats called Keystone a risk to the environment. President Barack Obama today said Congress should not “short circuit” the current administration review.
TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone became the first major topic for Congress’s lame-duck session after Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, facing a Dec. 6 runoff, proposed a Senate vote on her bill to bypass a government review and approve the pipeline. Until now, majority Democrats had blocked a vote on a similar measure to circumvent the administration. That prompted House Republicans to schedule today’s vote on identical legislation sponsored by her challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy.
In Myanmar today during his trip to Asia, Obama said the review being conducted by the State Department should be allowed to go forward once a court case challenging the route across Nebraska is resolved. He dismissed Republican arguments that it will create jobs. Read the full story.
Bloomberg also reports this morning that delays of Keystone XL are providing little obstacle to Western Canadian oil producers getting their crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, with shipments set to more than double next year.
The volume of Canadian crude processed at Gulf Coast refineries could climb to more than 400,000 barrels a day in 2015, according to Jackie Forrest, vice president of Calgary-based ARC Financial Corp. Canadian exports to the Gulf have risen 83% in the past four years. The expansion shows Canadians are finding alternative entry points into the U.S. while the Keystone saga drags on. Read the full story.
