NINE DEMOCRATS JOIN 53 Republicans In APPROVING KEYSTONE XL. President Obama's VETO Certain [View all]

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attribution: inhabitat.com


There were no real surprises in the Senate vote to force construction of the 1,179-mile northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday. Sixty votes were needed and the tally of senators in favor was 62, with 36 opposed. That included all the Republicans who were present and nine Democrats, all of whom had backed the pipeline in previous votes.

The nine:

Michael Bennet of Colorado,
Tom Carper of Delaware,
Bob Casey of Pennsylvania,
Joe Donnelly of Indiana,
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota,
Joe Manchin of West Virginia,
Claire McCaskill of Missouri,
Jon Tester of Montana and
Mark Warner of Virginia.


Before the bill hits the president's desk, probably next week, the Senate version must be approved by the House or meshed with the already-passed House version. House leaders haven't decided whether to pass the Senate bill without amendment or reconcile the two bills, which would mean changes in both that would require a vote in both houses. This isn't the first time that Congress has tried to force President Obama to approve the pipeline. He overruled an attempt in 2012. The White House has indicated from the minute that the current bill was proposed last year by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that Obama would veto it because it overrides presidential authority over approving international pipelines. That process has been governed by executive orders dating back to 1968 and most recently updated in 2004 by President Bush. Presidents have made decisions on pipelines, bridges and tunnels that cross international boundaries since the Grant administration. The evaluation process is delegated to the State Department. It includes an 11-volume environmental impact statement, review of more than two million public comments and reviews by eight federal agencies and departments. Those agency reviews are due to be delivered to the State Department on Monday. Evaluating them and writing a recommendation for a decision on the pipeline could take several weeks, meaning a decision might not be made until March.

Coral Davenport reports:

Advocates on both sides of the debate are urging Mr. Obama to make a decision soon, and some people familiar with Mr. Obama’s thinking say that after all the years of deliberation and delay, he could weigh in as soon as February.
Senator John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican who is a chief sponsor of the bill, said, “You’ve got Congress approving it on a bipartisan basis. All six states on the route have approved it. The Nebraska court decision is done. The American people overwhelmingly support it. The president has to consider all that when he makes his decision.”

On that point, environmentalist opponents of the pipeline agreed. “This issue is ready for a decision,” said Michael Brune, execuive director of the Sierra Club, one of the groups that has held hundreds of rallies outside the White House and around the country, urging Mr. Obama to reject the project. “After the agencies have weighed in, this issue has been examined enough and the president has everything he needs to make this decision.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/us/politics/keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-senate-vote.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/29/1361002/-Nine-Democrats-join-53-Republicans-in-approving-Keystone-XL-President-Obama-s-veto-certain