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The U.S. Senate passed a bill Thursday approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting up a looming veto showdown with the White House. The legislation passed on a 62-36 vote

The Keystone XL pipeline is closer than it’s ever been to approval after the Senate overcame a Democrat-led filibuster Thursday and was headed for a final passage vote later in the day — setting up an eventual showdown with President Obama, who has promised a veto. Nine Democrats bucked Mr. Obama’s threat and voted with 53 Republicans to approve the pipeline, which has taken on a political significance far beyond the 830,000 barrels per day of tar sands oil that it is projected to carry if it ever gets built. It marks the first major legislation to clear the Senate...

The Senate on Thursday took a major step toward passing legislation that would approve the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline. After weeks of considering Republican and Democratic amendments to the bill, Republicans finally found enough Democrats to get over a procedural obstacle that required 60 votes. The Senate voted 62-35 in favor of ending debate on the bill, which will allow the Senate to pass the bill later in the day. The Senate will pass the Keystone XL pipeline bill Thursday afternoon, delivering a victory to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas.). Image: AP Photo/J. Scott...

To the Editor: Congressmen Toomey, Casey and Meehan are touting the Keystone Pipeline (a pipe that would move dirty tar sands oil across the country from Canada to the Gulf Coast for export) as a jobs bill. But research shows that the Pipeline would only create mostly temporary jobs — around 3,000 jobs per month for about 12 to 18 months. And, after the Pipeline is completed, only around 35 to 50 permanent jobs will remain. As far as jobs bills go, that’s pretty anemic. Instead, our congressmen could create millions of good-paying, long-lasting American jobs (that can’t be outsourced)...

(Reuters) - Kinder Morgan Inc's (KMI.N) proposed Freedom Pipeline, which would move West Texas crude oil to Southern California, is "getting more interest" from U.S. West Coast refiners, the head of the company's natural gas pipeline unit told analysts on Wednesday. Unit President Tom Martin said the company "may have a shot" at moving ahead with converting a natural gas pipeline to move crude and condensate to California "if we can get the refiners on board." The pipeline and logistics company first proposed the $2 billion project in 2012 but shelved it in May 2013 for lack of shipper interest....

Energy: While taking credit for increased oil and gas production on private and state lands, the president moves to put 12 million acres of the oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge off limits. OPEC and the Saudis are smiling. Whoever's in charge of presidential optics these days fits the classic definition of the blind leading the blind. It's bad enough that President Obama doesn't have time to get to Paris for a global protest against terrorism after the Charlie Hebdo attack but can meet and greet the San Antonio Spurs. But then he privately slams an invitation by Congress to Israeli...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) late Thursday left Democrats angry and sputtering on the Senate floor, as he used his new power as majority leader to brush off several Democratic amendments in an effort to speed up work on a bill to approve the Keystone pipeline. McConnell has so far made a point of allowing amendment votes, something Democrats barely allowed for the last few years. Earlier Thursday, McConnell boasted that the Senate had already held more amendment votes on the Keystone bill than Democrats allowed during all of 2014. “We’ve actually reached a milestone here that I think’s noteworthy for...

The new, freewheeling Senate of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell presided over an agitated debate on the Keystone XL pipeline that churned into Friday’s wee hours and ended with aggrieved Democrats crying Koch. Around midnight, a seemingly endless series of amendment votes and quorum calls shifted as McConnell moved to end debate on a bill that would yank President Barack Obama’s authority over the proposed oil pipeline — after quickly disposing of five Democratic amendments. Story Continued Below . . Blindsided Democrats accused the Kentucky Republican of shutting down a Senate that he had promised to run in a more open...

The fate of the oil that flows through the Keystone XL pipeline and the source of the steel used to make it are set to be decided this week in the U.S. Senate. The chamber is expected to vote on as many as three amendments to GOP-backed legislation to authorize the TransCanada Corp. pipeline on Tuesday, with more than four dozen other possibilities on the horizon. Few are without controversy, and many are meant to send a message or put senators in a difficult spot, casting votes on such issues as protectionism, oil spills and climate change. The first three...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A potentially endangered species of bat could become a major obstacle to the proposed Sandpiper oil pipeline in northern Minnesota. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering whether to declare the northern long-eared bat an endangered species because the spread of the white-nosed syndrome disease has reduced its population. In that case, Enbridge could be forced to postpone its pipeline project or chose a different route. The current proposal would carry crude from the North Dakota oilfields to Superior, Wisconsin and would run through the bats' habitat. Enbridge has already taken steps to avoid...

Canada-based Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) and Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) celebrated Jan. 16 the beginning of delivery of Canadian tar sands crude oil to the Houston area through a new pipeline system. While the Keystone XL pipeline remains mired in political debate, Enbridge and Enterprise on Dec. 21 delivered the first high-volume Canadian crude to Freeport, Texas through the newly completed Seaway Pipeline system twin loop and the new Flanagan South pipeline. The two pipeline systems connect in Cushing, Oklahoma, with the new Seaway loop delivering up to 450,000 barrels of oil a day of Canadian crude...

Despite an oversupply of crude oil that has halved trading prices and led the U.S. to consider lifting a 40-year-ban on crude exports, completing the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline remains a priority, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Friday in Beaumont. “We know that as global demand goes up, prices will go up,” Cornyn, R-Texas, said. “I think we ought to take advantage of the opportunity we’ve been given because great innovative drilling techniques devised in the United States and the great natural resources we have … help grow our economy and help keep America safe.” Cornyn delivered...

Mexico’s state-owned oil company acknowledges that pipeline thefts have gotten so bad they’re causing gasoline shortages in some states. The Pemex oil company says thieves repeatedly drilled illegal taps into pipelines carrying gasoline from refineries to distribution centers in north-central Mexico.... Thieves drilled around 2,500 illegal taps in the first nine months of 2104, and stole more than $1 billion in fuel.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is apparently causing headaches for his fellow Republican senators once again by pushing what many consider a sensible policy at what some call an inopportune time, according to a Sunday story in the Washington Examiner. Instead of repealing Obamacare or curtailing immigration, Cruz is proposing an amendment to the Keystone XL Pipeline authorization bill that would lift the 39-year ban on crude oil exports. The question, which many Republican senators have, is this the right time and is Keystone XL the right vehicle?As has previously been the case, Cruz has the facts on his side. The...

The White House confirmed Thursday that Canada has postponed the North American Leaders Summit scheduled for next month but would not say whether tension over the Keystone XL oil pipeline is the reason. Canada, this year’s summit host, announced Thursday that the summit will be held later in 2015, though no exact date has been set. Some Canadian media outlets, such as the Toronto Sun, reported that the meeting was rescheduled because of President Obama’s continued indecision on Keystone, which...

Not since the multiplication of the loaves and fishes near the Sea of Galilee has there been creativity as miraculous as that of the Keystone XL pipeline. It has not yet been built but already is perhaps the most constructive infrastructure project since the Interstate Highway System. It has accomplished an astonishing trifecta: It has made mincemeat of Barack Obama’s pose of thoughtfulness. It has demonstrated that he lacks even a rudimentary understanding of the most basic economic realities. It has dramatized environmentalism’s descent into infantilism. Obama entered the presidency trailing clouds of intellectual self-regard. His carefully cultivated persona was...

Moscow (AFP) - Russia's Gazprom giant on Wednesday urged the European Union to link up to its planned energy pipeline to Turkey or lose the gas that now transits Ukraine. Gazprom chief Alexei Miller reminded the new European Commissioner for Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic that the South Stream project to deliver gas to Europe through Ukraine has been scrapped. Hence, "the Turkish Stream is the only route along which 63 billion cubic metres of Russian gas can be supplied, which at present transit Ukraine. There are no other options," he said...

After it was narrowly defeated last November, approval to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline has just passed in the Senate, and is expected to pass in the House of Representatives (by the end of next week). President Obama plans to veto the legislation, after which it will be sent back to both houses of Congress for another round of voting.The contentious 1,200-mile, 36-inch-wide steel pipeline would transport both heavy oil and bitumen—low-grade crudes that need extra refining before they can be made into products such as gasoline—from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The pipeline has...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is threatening to keep senators working until after midnight Tuesday to break Democratic opposition to moving ahead with approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. ADVERTISEMENT McConnell warned he would keep the Senate in session until the early morning if that’s what is necessary to begin consideration of amendments to the Keystone bill as soon as possible. “Some of our colleagues on the other side continue to filibuster the motion to proceed to this bill. All senators should know that we will get on this bill today and begin the amendment process — either this...

The Senate will start debate on Monday on a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline as Republicans, who have made the project their first priority of the year, try to line up enough votes to overcome a potential veto by President Barack Obama. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, a co-sponsor of the bill to approve TransCanada Corp's pipeline, has about 63 supporters, including all 54 Republicans. That is four short of the 67 needed to overcome an Obama veto. The White House has said the president would reject the bill if it reaches his desk. Hoeven said...