Intro: "Republican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a highway bill that Congress will consider next month, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday."

House Republicans have made the Keystone pipeline a main issue in the payroll tax talks. (photo: AP)

Republicans to Link Keystone Pipeline to Highway Bill

By Kim Dixon and Paul Simao, Reuters

30 January 12

epublican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a highway bill that Congress will consider next month, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday.

President Barack Obama earlier this month denied TransCanada's application for the oil sands pipeline, citing lack of time to review an alternative route within a 60-day window for action set by Congress.

Republicans have since been looking for a vehicle to resurrect the $7 billion project, and Boehner said that would be a House Republican energy and highway bill.

"If (Keystone) is not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it will be part of it," Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" news program.

Environmentalists and some Democrats oppose Keystone, citing higher greenhouse gas emissions, while most Republicans say it would create needed jobs.

Republicans in the Senate also plan to introduce a Keystone bill. Some Senate Democrats back the pipeline, but its passage is not guaranteed in the body.

Parts of the House Republican plan, such as opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, stand little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

Attaching Keystone to a pending deal to extend payroll tax cuts for workers, which has greater bipartisan backing than the highway bills, is another vehicle Republicans are considering.

(Reporting By Kim Dixon; Editing by Paul Simao)

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+5 # tedrey 2012-01-30 08:42

This would all be so simple if sensible business practices and not politics ruled. The contract would provide (A) so many thousand jobs will be created for so many years, or contract is voided, and Keystone XL pays expenses. (B) Adverse effects due to leaks, etc., are to be paid in full by Keystone XL without question. Problem solved. (Keystone XL would not agree to it.)

+2 # LiberalLibertarian 2012-01-30 13:48

They would agree to it and then make it so hard to enforce that it would not be worth the cost.

I am 99.995% positive.

+16 # CL38 2012-01-30 09:11

The American people don't care what the 1% right wants. They've been misrepresenting the truth for so long, they wouldn't know the facts if their lives depended on it.

Somehow (petitions, writing & emailing politicians, voting these creeps out) we have to stop this insanity.

-1 # MidwestTom 2012-01-30 09:18

What about the pollution caused by hauling literally thousands of railroad cars loaded with crude oil from the tar sands to Houston. There will be RR wrecks and big spills, plus the off gases of the multiple diesel engines required to pull these heavy trains. How come no discussion of that continuous pollution.

+4 # LiberalLibertarian 2012-01-30 13:52

Drilling for oil using any method is so 20th Century. It should have been outlawed by now. We need a President that can set an example for going green. Perhaps, a symbolic act like using solar panels on the White House will inspire us to go green.

Never gonna happen.

There will always be Reagan around the corner to claim that he is the sunshine, we don't need no 'stinkin' solar panels.

+1 # pbbrodie 2012-01-30 16:53

Because there is no way they could transport that much oil by railroad, it just wouldn't be economically feasible.

+10 # Barbara K 2012-01-30 10:29

The Republibaggers stand to make so much money off the Keystone project that they don't care what harm it does to our country or to us. They are sneaky, devious, lying greedy slime. I hope people have wised up and realize how much this bunch of sleezeballs need to be replaced. They've become so wealthy since they got in congress, even the short term ones, with all the bribes they take. Get them out of our government. They don't deserve the seats that were bought for them. They are after only their own interests.

NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!

our livelihoods are at stake

+5 # X Dane 2012-01-30 12:04

I agree with most of what you say Barbara. The republicans ar doing the bidding of the oil companies.

But because of the high unemployment rate MANY people only hear what the GOP is yelling: It will create lots of jobs. It will not.
So they are confused, and hope for jobs.

The jobs, I am afraid, will be in the clean-up business and healh care business, created by way more pollution of land and people.

+10 # MainStreetMentor 2012-01-30 10:49

Attempts at hostage taking again by the Weeper of the House. A process which continues to politically scream: It's OUR way or NO way, by the anti-American, Party-of-No, conservative factions within our own national legislature. These incompetent, self-serving factions continue to trample the needs of Americans - in this case the repair and rebuilding of EVERY STATES infrastructure of roadways and bridges. I trust we will remember who did this to America and Americans at the next elections.

+2 # Caballero69 2012-01-30 10:55

The Republicans are addicted to sneaking things through as riders on other more worthy bills. This is a tactic used by both parties from time to time, but it is deplorable nonetheless.

If the Keystone project is so meritorious, why don't the Republicans let it rise or fall on those merits? This question answers itself.

+2 # fancygapva 2012-01-30 12:11

Why would we want to let Canada run its oil through our aquifers (including the Oglala aquifer in the mid-west, the largest in the country) so that they can sell it to other countries? The few thousand jobs would be temporary and many would not go to locals.

Somebody will get rich off this project, but it won't be American workers.

+1 # Holyone 2012-01-30 15:49

Republicans have no shame. But, perhaps we can help them with this deficiency by routing them in the up-coming 2012 elections.

If they fail to respond to this precription, we can reapply the same remedy in 2014.

0 # Tippitc 2012-01-31 20:06

Where does 'Boner' get off giving the President an ultimatum - testy, testy!! Maybe he needs a good cry!!

0 # lark3650 2012-02-01 06:44

How do these people sleep at night and look themselves in the mirror during the day and think they are doing the right thing?

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.