House of Representatives approves Keystone project

The Star Phoenix
William Marsden
November 14, 2014

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted overwhelmingly 252-161 to authorize the immediate construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The U.S. Senate will debate the measure on Tuesday and might vote that same day. It is uncertain if Keystone can get the 60 votes to avoid a filibuster.

In many ways, the House and Senate votes are political stunts designed to help either Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu or Republican opponent Rep. Bill Cassidy win a senate run-off vote in Louisiana on Dec. 6. The two candidates sponsored the bills in their respective Houses of Congress - despite the fact that the House has voted on the issue eight previous times.

The Keystone pipeline, which would transport about 830,000 barrels of bitumen and crude oil from Alberta's oilsands and the Bakken field in North Dakota to Gulf Coast refineries, has become a jobs-creation issue in Louisiana.

The state department has been studying the pipeline for six years and the final decision rests with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Debate in the House Thursday drew a stark line between lawmakers who support the pipeline as a job creation and energy security project and those who oppose it because they say it will intensify climate change by allowing the expansion of the oilsands and therefore more greenhouse gases.

Both sides accused the other of political grandstanding for the Louisiana senate seat by proposing the bills in the first place.

"This is nothing but barenaked politics," Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon said on the House floor. Republican Rep. Mike Kelly countered that the Keystone bill is a "jobs bill about creating tens of thousands of jobs for hardworking Americans and one job in the senate" for Mary Landrieu.

He noted the senate never took previous House bills. "Now miraculously the senate is entertaining this because of one job," he said. Calgary-based TransCanada countered in its own statement that Keystone has strong bipartisan support.