Republican senators hope to force President Obama to approve Keystone XL within 60 days

Keystone XL is too vital to America's energy security to delay further, say Republican Senators who want President Obama to approve it quickly.

A group of Senate Republicans is trying to force President Barack Obama to make a speedy decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, even though the US State Department recently ruled that a final decision on construction of the controversial pipeline would have to await further study. The House Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing on legislation called the “North American Energy Security Act,” which would require President Barack Obama to issue a permit on the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline within 60 days of the law’s enactment or determine the pipeline is not in the national interest.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, says the pipeline is vital to ensuring America’s energy security and a “dramatic” opportunity to create jobs. Calling it the largest infrastructure project now ready to go in the United States, Lugar said he would push for the Foreign Relations Committee of which he is a member, to consider the bill.

Mike Johanns (Neb.), one of the bill’s 37 cosponsors, said issues surrounding Keystone XL’s route across his state have been resolved, and the bill reflects this.

Other cosponsors noted that forcing Canadian oil sands producers to sell crude recovered from Alberta deposits elsewhere would have greater adverse environmental impacts. John Hoeven (SD), another Energy and Natural Resources Committee member, said supertankers and terminals involved in transporting the crude from Canada’s west coast to East Asian customers would emit more carbon dioxide than the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline.

The American Petroleum Institute immediately expressed its strong support for the bill. “The process has dragged on for more than 3 years and the latest decision by the president will add at least another year of delay. This shovel-ready project should not be shelved for political purposes,” said API Executive Vice-President Marty Durbin.