Canada Ping!
Posted on 11/14/2014 10:25:07 AM PST by thackney
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday as Senate supporters worked to line up 60 votes to send the measure to the White House.
The 252-161 House vote came amid jockeying by two Louisiana lawmakers — Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy and Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu — to be seen winning authorization for the pipeline before voters decide which of them serves in the Senate next year.
Cassidy said it’s past time for the United States to authorize Keystone XL, six years after Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. first asked for permits to construct the pipeline to ferry crude to the Gulf Coast.
“The case for approving the Keystone XL pipeline is clear and obvious, so why hasn’t the president approved it?” Cassidy questioned. “And, up to this point, why hasn’t Sen. (Harry) Reid allowed a vote on approving Keystone?”
The Senate is set to vote on identical legislation sponsored by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., on Tuesday, under an agreement reached by Landrieu. She began pressing for action within an hour after the Senate reconvened this week, in its first session since the Nov. 4 election that swept Republicans into office nationwide.
It is not clear whether she has the 60 votes necessary for passage under the deal for Senate consideration.
Keystone XL supporters now count at least 59 affirmative votes, including all 45 of the Senate’s Republicans and 14 Democrats, including Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Tom Carper of Delaware.
One big question mark is retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota. Johnson said an ongoing review process should play out on the pipeline, but his successor, Sen.-elect Mike Rounds, is expected to back Keystone XL construction.
Even if the Senate passes the bill, it is not clear whether President Barack Obama would sign it. Although the White House has stopped short of issuing a veto threat, advisers previously recommended the president reject similar Keystone XL bills.
And during an overnight press conference in Burma, Obama said he had not changed his position on the importance of the ongoing review process for the pipeline. The State Department has indefinitely delayed a final assessment of whether the proposed border-crossing pipeline is in the national interest while the Nebraska Supreme Court weighs a legal challenge to its route.
“This is a process that is supposed to be followed,” Obama said.
But Obama also appeared to push back on arguments that Keystone XL would provide big, direct benefits to the United States.
It would allow “Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold to everyone else,” Obama said. “It doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.”
TransCanada, in turn, insisted that the pipeline would support U.S. jobs and deliver crude to Gulf Coast refineries.
“Keystone XL is not an export pipeline – period,” the company said in a statement. “The Canadian and American oil we deliver today through the Keystone system goes to U.S. refineries to create products we need – gasoline, diesel, aviation fuels and many other products we use and consume here in North America. It makes no business sense for our customers to transport oil down to the U.S. Gulf Coast, pay to export it overseas but then pay to transport millions of barrels of higher-priced oil back to the U.S. refineries to create the products we rely on.”
Canada ping
The lyin’ king’s veto pen is “reporting for duty”. Or was that doo dee.
So, what’s the record for time wasted doing an EIS on a project? KXL could get the new record.
I thought I saw a couple of articles this week that said that this deal doesn’t make economical sense unless barrel prices remain above $85/barrel. We dropped below $74 this afternoon.
He's right. 6 years is just not enough...
Maybe 600 years would be sufficient.
Maybe.
Not a single peep from all the liberals who told us, FOR YEARS, how evil the Keystone pipeline is....
Or the Dems that continuously blocked it.
And the Mainstream media isn’t even curious enough to note the hypocrisy.
Can’t imagine why....
I think the Senate and the House have the numbers to muster 2/3 of their respective chamber’s votes to override an expected Obama veto.
The Gulf Coast Region is currently importing 3.5 MMBPD of Crude Oil.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_imp_dc_R30-Z00_mbblpd_m.htm
It is also home to many of our refineries that are optimized to process the heavy stuff coming out of Canada and Venezuela.
Canada Ping!
Remember, the MAIN objection to the pipeline is that it would allow us access to oil, and we would use it.
The project was submitted for approval when oil was selling at $48, back in 2005. The review for deciding to go forward with the project happened earlier, when prices were lower.
And it doesn't matter what the oil sells for, it only matters the difference in value between the ends of the pipeline. This is a transportation system, not a production system.
Oh Noes!!! Not a veto!!!
Sheesh. Make the putz veto it. It just makes him look more out of touch.
...besides, the mid-term elections are over...I'm waiting for all the fuzzy-math numbers to return to reality...at least until 2016, when all the smiling faces with their decorations and can sling their hash once again.
The Alaska Pipeline, which has provided the nation with billions of barrels of oil and thousands of jobs since it opened in 1977, was nearly prevented from being built by federal delays similar to those now holding up Keystone XL. The pipeline became a reality only after Congress passed the 1973 Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, which cleared away the roadblocks and approved the project.
While we are a major user, the price of oil and the recent drops in price are global. China is not far off from using more oil per day than the US.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-12/china-seen-overtaking-u-s-as-world-s-biggest-oil-user.html
Sen. Tom Carper, D-DE is supporting Keystone.
Wow—I have my shocked face on.
Heck, it was easier back then but now with the new improved epa in place........... How many years for an EIS these days? Are there possibly some new species of erf worms in the path? Will there be any wet spots that must be regulated by the epa along the route? I guess defining navigable depends on if there happens to be a skeeter navigating the puddle for not.
Keep in mind, low prices tend to raise, not lower demand.
This pipeline is not about producing oil, but rather moving oil. Only the difference in price matters, not the absolute price.
If the difference in price is $15 and it cost $8 to move it, it doesn’t matter if the selling price is $100 or $60.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.