“We are now in year six of the permitting process,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) asserted this evening on the Senate floor, expressing his astonishment that the Keystone Pipeline was easily approved in 2008 (and later completed in 2012), but the Keystone XL Pipeline has been stalled in Congress for years.
“It’s certainly past time we complete the Keystone XL Pipeline,” he continued. “You can’t build an energy plan for this country if you don’t build and approve the infrastructure to make it work.”
“Five environmental impact statements [show] there is no environmental impact,” he said. “Let’s make this decision on the merits, let’s make it on the facts.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), for her part, later added that oil from Canada is going to be shipped south anyway, and therefore completing the pipeline would be the safest and most environmentally friendly way to transport it. She was a co-sponsor of the bill. By contrast, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) disagreed. She argued the pipeline is terrible for the environment, hazardous to local communities, and of course, a windfall to Big Oil and the Koch Brothers.
Moments ago, however, Keystone supporters experienced a legislative setback: The bill failed to pass the upper chamber by one vote (60 were needed):
Nevertheless, congressional Republicans aren't giving up yet. I'll leave you with these two items:
Breaking News: Mary Landrieu has 18 days left as a Senator.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) November 18, 2014GOP should have at least 63 votes for Keystone when it comes up in next Congress. Dems delaying the inevitable at the expense of a colleague
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) November 18, 2014