Will Keystone XL finally be approved?
House
lawmakers on Friday passed a bill to approve construction of the
controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The Senate is expected to vote on a
similar measure Tuesday.Lawmakers in the House voted 251-161 in favor of the legislation aimed at circumventing the need for TransCanada Corp. to get the Obama administration’s approval to go ahead with construction of the pipeline. The company has been waiting for the administration to make a decision for more than six years.
Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the legislation’s sponsor, said he wants the legislation to move quickly through the Senate to” finally get a bill to the president’s desk that approves this long-overdue Keystone XL pipeline.”
“This will create other economic activity. This will ripple out through the economy,” Cassidy also said of the legislation.
If Keystone supporters in the upper chamber gain the 60 vote majority needed to block a filibuster in passing the legislation, it’ll go to the president’s desk. After years of delaying a decision on Keystone, Obama would then be forced to either pass or veto the legislation, without blaming hurdles within the State Department for his indecision.
On Thursday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested that Obama could veto the legislation.
And Obama, speaking from Asia, said that the pipeline would do little to help U.S. energy independence.
“Understand what this project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. It doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices,” said Obama, according to USA Today. “If my Republican friends really want to focus on what’s good for the American people in terms of job creation and lower energy costs, we should be engaging in a conversation about what are we doing to produce even more homegrown energy. I’m happy to have that conversation.”
As to whether a filibuster-proof majority is possible for Keystone in the Senate, supporters appeared confident that they had sealed the deal by Friday.
“It is ready for a vote and we have the 60 votes to pass it,” Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said midweek.
Landrieu is currently battling Cassidy for her Senate seat, which could prove instrumental in helping the conservative state Democrat get her colleagues to help her pass the legislation.
America takes the risk
ReplyDeleteChina gets the oil
The Koch brothers get the money
America and the world get the pollution
FYI to first commenter...China is the most polluted country in the world followed by India...the US by population and area wise is one of the least...so get your facts straight before you bloviate...ooooh...I made a rhyme...LOL
DeleteWhy are you guys so anxious to build a pipeline so Canada can sell it's dirty tar-sand oil offshore? For the temporary jobs that'll be created building it?
ReplyDeleteIf you really are against OPEC then support the building of wind, solar, biomass and hydro plants. Buy an electric or hybrid car. Install solar panels on your house. Use LED lighting. Turn your thermostat down 2 degrees in the winter. In short, use one of the many ways currently available to limit the use of oil in the first place. Weaning off of oil has the pleasant side-effect of producing less pollution as well.
The energy sources you talk about like wind, solar, etc. are adjunct sources of energy and were NEVER mean as primary sources of energy. Besides they are proven failures as far as their expectations even for that. The Keystone Pipeline will create thousands of permanent jobs NOT temporary jobs as you say as well as creating jobs in the adjunct industries that go hand-in-hand with any pipeline of its sort. And BTW...ALL oil is dirty BEFORE it's refined...ALL oil...period. and today's electric and hybrid cars are an expensive joke and solar panels...and I had them on my previous house...save mere pennies on the dollar is all making them NOT worth their very expensive installation cost.
ReplyDeleteThousands of permanent jobs? In Canada maybe, not here. I've seen no study that supports that statement. Also, Diane, I'm sorry but you're wrong about tar sand oil. Yes, all oil is dirty before refinement, but tar sand oil is MUCH dirtier and requires much more energy and effort to refine.
DeleteAs far as hybrids and electric vehicles are concerned, think what you want. I drive an electric car everyday. I use no gas, have a quiet ride and leave most people in my dust, all with no tailpipe emissions. Sure, the electricity is likely produced with at least some fossil fuels, but the resultant power plant CO2 emissions from the kwh's that I use is less than 20% of what a typical car outputs from it's tailpipe.
Oh, and why do all alternative energy sources have to be cheaper than oil, anyway? I bring this up because you said your solar panels weren't worth it due to their cost. To some people, the fact that they're clean will be worth some additional expense. I'd happily pay a bit more to have solar than to watch my furnace belch out carbon in the winter.
I'll put it another way. Do you drive a nice car? I'm sure you do. Why, when there are cheap economy cars that'll get you where you're going? Because you made a choice to spend a little more on something that does the same thing. If more people made the same type of decisions about their choice of energy maybe we wouldn't need as much oil in the first place.
You're not gonna get any comprehension out of Diane Sori. Shes bought and sold by big oil and big money. A willfully ignorant pawn.
DeleteI just find it intriguing that she's such a big supporter of Canada. Is it because Ted Cruz is from there? Maybe she just appreciates a good maple syrup, I don't know.
DeleteTar sand oil production is currently responsible for about 20% of all of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. If the pipeline goes in that number is expected to go up over 50%. As Americans, we tend to think of our neighbors to the north as kindly, polite environmental stewards. That's really not the case anymore. Canada is destroying it's environment at an alarming rate, all for economic growth. Young men from all over Canada have flocked to Alberta for the well paying, no experience needed jobs. People have turned their backs because it's good for the economy short-term, and it's largely out of sight to most Canadians. Canada and the world will pay a hefty price for this short sightedness.
I drive what I can afford and I drive one mother of a gas-guzzler...as is my right. And I don't want to hear that anonymous has an electric car that lays people in the dust as that is pure crap as the electric cars only go up to about 80 or 90 MPH or less...I drive a Jag that goes up to over 170 plus MPH...wanna race me...LOL
DeleteA Jag huh? Nice car Diane, they are really lovely. I personally chose to support the American economy and American workers by buying an American made car, but to each his own.
DeleteApparently you'd rather support Canada and England. That's your prerogative; it's a free country.
Oh, and a Tesla Model S, made in the good old USA, goes from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. That's faster than any Jaguar being made, for your information. The Tesla tops out at 130mph.
DeleteEven the meager Chevy Volt does 0-60 in 8.9 seconds, which isn't too shabby. It tops out at 100mph.
Sorry, but your propaganda that hybrid and electric cars are rubbish is just more of your non-factual bull crap.
wow. These "conservatives" are falling short on logic here. Turns out that investing in renewables and electric is about as american and conservative a concept as gun rights and low taxes. The poor hypocritical fools just want to stick it to Obama so bad, that they're willing to look like 5 year olds to do it. This blog is such a bastion of racism and downright idiocy that I cant seem to look away! I keep getting drawn back in to the dumb. I must not be as smart as I think I am.
DeleteI hear you. You'd think they'd support locally generated electricity, nope. Solar and wind installation and maintenance jobs, nope. US manufactured electric cars, the devil incarnate. Helping Canada sell it's dirty oil? Where do I sign!?!?!
Delete