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Keystone XL bill

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The House of Representatives has passed the controversial bill approving the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Senate is expected to pass a similar bill soon, which President Barack Obama has said he will veto.

Earlier in today, a court in Nebraska dismissed a case that would have stalled construction of Keystone XL pipeline.

The project has been one of the most contentious issues between President Barack Obama and Republicans who now lead Congress.

It is 1,179-mile extension of an existing pipeline that would bring additional oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to refining facilities near the Gulf of Mexico.

The bill was the first piece of major legislation to be introduced by the newly Republican-controlled Congress. It passed the House by a vote of 266-153, with 28 Democrats supporting the measure.

“We shouldn’t be debating it, we should be building it,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.

The Senate will consider a similar bill on January 12, which it will likely pass in the coming weeks.House passes Keystone XL bill

The $5.4 billion project was first introduced in 2008.

The bill is controversial because the tar sand oil that the pipeline will transport is said to be more polluting than other types of oil.

However, an official environmental review released last year raised no major environmental objections to the pipeline’s construction.

Many Republicans and some trade unions support the bill because they say it will generate jobs.

Because the pipeline would cross an international border, the state department has to grant a permit for its construction.

But in voting today, Congressional Republicans have set the stage to bypass this review process and allow construction to begin immediately.

Earlier in the week, the Obama administration said it opposes the bill because it “prevents the thorough consideration of complex issues that could bear on US national interests,” and because of “uncertainty due to ongoing litigation in Nebraska”.

On January 9, the Supreme Court in Nebraska dismissed the lawsuit on which Barack Obama’s veto threat was party based.

The lawsuit was considered a major obstacle to the pipeline’s construction.

Despite passing, the bill failed to garner the two-thirds majority in the House that it would need in the future to override a presidential veto.

The Senate would likely be unable to override a veto as well.

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President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill approving the controversial Keystone XL pipeline if it passes Congress, the White House has announced.

It is the first major legislation to be introduced in the Republican-controlled Congress and a vote is expected in the House later this week.

Spokesman Josh Earnest said the legislation would undermine a “well-established” review process.

The $5.4 billion-project was first introduced in 2008.

Barack Obama has been critical of the pipeline, saying at the end of last year it would primarily benefit Canadian oil firms and not contribute much to already dropping petrol prices.Keystone XL pipeline

Environmentalists are also critical of the project, a proposed 1,179-mile pipe that would run from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, where it could join an existing pipe.

The project is the subject of a unresolved lawsuit in Nebraska over the route of the pipeline.

“There is already a well-established process in place to consider whether or not infrastructure projects like this are in the best interest of the country,” Josh Earnest said on January 6.

He added that the question of the Nebraska route was “impeding a final conclusion” from the US on the project.

Despite the veto threat from the White House, the bill sponsors say they have enough Democratic votes to overcome a procedural hurdle to pass in the Senate.

“The Congress on a bipartisan basis is saying we are approving this project,” said Republican John Hoeven, one of the bill’s sponsors.

John Hoeven and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said they would be open to additional amendments to the bill, a test of the changing political realities of the Senate.

Democratic critics of the bill are said to be planning to add measures to prohibit exporting the oil abroad, use American materials in the pipeline construction and increased investment in clean energy.

It is unclear if those amendments would gather the two-thirds of votes needed in both chambers to override Barack Obama’s veto.

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