House GOP passes bills to approve KXL, boost domestic production

E&E News
By Daniel Bush
September 19, 2014

House Republicans yesterday passed two legislative packages that would approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline and boost domestic energy production, over objections from Democrats who claimed that the votes were aimed at turning out GOP voters in the midterm elections.

The House voted 226-191 to approve H.R. 2, the "American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act," a package of bills that includes a measure that would approve the cross-border section of KXL.

H.R. 2 also includes Rep. Ed Whitfield's (R-Ky.) H.R. 3826, a measure intended to block U.S. EPA's proposed power plant rules, and H.R. 2824, which would prevent the Office of Surface Mining from moving forward with a stream protection rule for coal mines.

The House voted 253-163 on the second legislative package, H.R. 4, which focuses on overall economic growth but includes several regulatory changes to natural resources-related industries.

One bill in H.R. 4 would streamline permitting for mining on public land. Another, H.R. 367, would require Congress to approve any major regulation from a federal agency.

Both packages passed along party lines, though each one received some support from Democrats.

Nine Democrats voted for H.R. 2, including Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), who is facing a tough re-election race that has been dominated by energy issues. Thirty-two Democrats backed H.R. 4.

The House has already passed several of the bills in different forms. But last week, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in a memo to colleagues that revisiting the bills now would help send a pro-energy message ahead of the midterms.

The votes came on the eve of the six-year anniversary of KXL's permit application, which House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) pointed out in a blog post hours before the bills passed.

"Just how much longer will the president make us wait for Keystone's jobs and energy?" Upton wrote.

"We're passing substantive bills that need to be passed by the Senate," Whitfield said in an interview. The upper chamber won't take up the bills because "[Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid does not want any of his vulnerable senators" to cast difficult votes before the midterm elections, Whitfield added.

But Democrats said the bills have no chance of passing the Senate and accused the GOP of holding the votes to drum up support for Republican candidates this fall.

"On their last day of session before the November election, House Republicans brought to the floor exactly the same kind of partisan messaging bills that they have wasted time on throughout the 113th Congress," House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement.

"We're wasting taxpayer dollars and avoiding real issues by passing bills [that] do nothing," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said in an interview after the vote.

Environmental groups also blasted the legislation.

H.R. 4 is "a radical package of bills that threatens vital health and environmental safeguards and our public lands," League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski wrote Wednesday in a letter to the House urging lawmakers to reject the proposal.

The White House Office of Management and Budget said earlier this week that President Obama would veto the bill if it got to his desk.