Lawmakers are poised to send President Barack Obama a bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the first direct challenge to the White House since Republicans took control of Congress.
The US House of Representatives voted 270-152 today to allow Canadian midstream company TransCanada to build the $8bn, 830,000 b/d pipeline to transport crude from Alberta's oil sands and the Bakken formation to the US midcontinent without further regulatory scrutiny.
The Senate approved the same language on 29 January, so the bill now goes to Obama's desk. Obama repeatedly has threatened to veto the measure. And proponents have not managed to attract enough votes in either chamber to override a presidential veto.
House speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that by promising to veto the bill, Obama "is standing with a bunch of left-fringe extremists and anarchists."
TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said "we are very appreciative of all those that support what we are trying to accomplish here, in terms of getting to approval. And I am hopeful that one way or another we get there, sooner rather than later."
If Obama vetoes the bill, proponents are expected to try to attach Keystone XL language to another bill. Republicans leaders in both chambers already are beginning work on a new, comprehensive energy bill.
Today's vote constituted the 11th time the House has voted to approve construction of the controversial pipeline. The House approved a similar measure on 9 January but had to vote again to sign off on some changes made by the Senate.
"It is time to build this," House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Michigan) said. But the panel's ranking Democrat, Frank Pallone of New Jersey said "we do not need this dirty oil."
The latest version includes a package of provisions to improve the energy efficiency of schools, federal buildings, commercial buildings and water heaters.
The measure includes non-binding language expressing the sense of the Senate – not applicable to the House – "that climate change is real and not a hoax."
The bill also features a non-binding resolution yesterday that expresses the Senates' view that crude from Canada's sands and transported through a US pipeline should be subject to the 8¢/bl excise tax paid to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
Obama has argued the legislation would disrupt the ongoing review of the pipeline's permit application.
The US State Department is still reviewing TransCanada's application to determine if construction of the project would be in the US' national interest.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 2 February questioned the State Department's finding that Canada's oil sands will be developed fully regardless of whether the Keystone XL pipeline gets built. And by emphasizing that higher production of oil sands crude could increase greenhouse gas emissions "significantly," the EPA handed Obama political cover if he chooses to deny the permit.
Girling sent a letter to the State Department yesterday, arguing that the State Department's conclusion Keystone XL is unlikely to significantly affect the rate of extraction from the oil sands "is demonstrably accurate."
In the absence of Keystone XL "other pipelines or rail transportation would be developed or expanded to transport increasing oil sands production," Girling wrote.
Oil sands development would increase GHG emissions by 1.3mn-27.4mn metric tonnes CO2 equivalent (CO2e)/yr compared with a basket of US crudes. Girling questioned the fairness of that comparison, since the Canadian oil sands imports would displace heavy crudes from Mexico and Venezuela. "GHG intensity from Canadian heavy crudes is within the same range as Venezuelan heavy crude oils that would be displaced by the project," Girling said.
Girling said he did not know whether the issues raised by EPA would further delay an approval process that already has dragged on for about 6.5 years.
Applauding today's vote, industry trade group the American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard said "we continue to urge the president to reconsider his veto threat, support the will of the people and prove that Washington can govern and enact meaningful energy policy."
Environmental group the Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said "the only thing congressional Republicans accomplished with this vote is a show of unflinching loyalty to their Big Oil campaign donors."
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