President Barack Obama has signaled he will not be pressured into giving a green light to the Keystone XL pipeline,
Politico reported.
The White House position is that it is awaiting a Nebraska Supreme Court decision over the pipeline's route inside that state. After the court rules, the State Department needs to issue a long-delayed environmental review of the project.
Obama has not said where he stands on the oil pipeline. The White House has reportedly indicated that it is not ideologically opposed to the project, but the administration's — and Obama's — latest remarks have been increasingly bullish, according to Politico.
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted Tuesday, 59-41, on construction of the pipeline, one vote shy of passing the legislation,
The Washington Post reported.
Obama is expected to veto any repeat effort next year when Republicans take over the Senate and would have the votes to push the project forward, according to Politico.
The president is under pressure from two opposing sides. Pro-oil Democrats and some unions want him to approve the pipeline. But conservation and environmental groups, mostly, want him to reject it. A
majority of Americans favor running the pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas.
Speaking earlier this week while he was traveling in Asia, Obama said, "I have to constantly push back against this idea that somehow the Keystone pipeline is either this massive jobs bill for the United States or is somehow lowering gas prices."
The president continued, "Understand what the project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else," Politico reported.
A preliminary State Department report said the project could create as many as 42,000 temporary jobs, but just 35 permanent jobs.
The project would have little impact on climate change. But environmentalists worry that a pipeline rupture would pose a pollution threat, even though
Canada and the U.S. are already linked by numerous pipelines, according to The Times.
Republicans have limited options to get around Obama. It is not likely they can garner 67 votes needed to override a veto. They could, however, attach a pro-pipeline rider to a piece of legislation the president very much wants, according to Politico.
Keystone opponents do not expect Obama to ever approve the project.
"We are more confident than ever that he will reject this dirty and dangerous pipeline," said Gene Karpinski of the League of Conservation Voters, Politico reported.
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