Keystone Pipeline Update

House defies Obama over Keystone oil pipeline-AFP

Speaker of the House John Boehner, (R-OH) pictured as he heads for a press briefing at the US Capitol, in January, in Washington, DC. Boehner and House Republican leaders lashed out at President Barack Obama and his decision to reject a bid to expand the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. "This fight is not over," Boehner said. (AFP Photo/Chip Somodevilla)

President Barack Obama speaks at the southern site of the Keystone XL pipeline, on March 22, in Cushing, Oklahoma. Obama was pressing federal agencies to expedite the section of the Keystone XL pipeline between Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast. (AFP Photo/Tom Pennington)
House Republicans kept a key plank of their energy policy alive, defying a White House veto threat and passing legislation mandating the building of a controversial oil pipeline. The text calling for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast was inserted into a bill extending transportation funding, which passed 293-127 in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. About 70 Democrats voted for the measure in the House but it is considered unlikely that the bill -- in its current form with the Keystone XL provision -- would pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. Congress had already approved a 90-day funding extension last month, after the House refused to pass the Senate's two-year, $109 billion transportation bill that had bipartisan support. The new House extension allows the party caucuses to gather together to hash out a compromise.
While House Speaker John Boehner had worked in vain to get the House to pass a massive, five-year transportation bill, he was hailing the latest extension as a victory. "The House is on record again in support of the Keystone XL energy pipeline -- a project President Obama blocked, personally lobbied against, then tried to take credit for, and now says he'll veto," Boehner said in a statement. Republicans have savaged Obama for suspending the project, under pressure from environmental groups, in January when he said the pipeline's planned route was through environmentally sensitive areas. Boehner said the $7 billion project -- part of an "all of the above" energy strategy that exploits traditional sources like oil and natural gas as well as newer technologies like wind, solar and biofuels -- would "create tens of thousands of new American jobs."
"If he continues to stand in the way, the Canadian government will bypass the United States and ship their energy -- and the jobs that come with it -- to countries like China," Boehner added. Environmentalists fear an accident along the 1,700-mile (2,700-kilometer) pipeline would spell disaster for aquifers in central US Great Plains states. They also oppose the project because exploiting the oil sands requires energy that generate a large volume of greenhouse gases.
CNN, citing a spokesman for Nebraska's environmental authority, reported that the company behind the controversial pipeline, TransCanada, has submitted a proposal for a new route that bypasses an environmentally sensitive aquifer.
MTW- Even if it somehow manages to make it through the Democratic controlled Senate, Obama will simply veto it, as he is at the service of oil companies, unions and tree-hugger lobbyists. The office of President is not for sale Mr. Obama. 70 Democrats voted for this.

Romney: I’ll build Keystone pipeline even ‘if I have to do it myself’
By Holly Bailey-Senior Political Reporter | The Ticket

Mitt Romney vowed Friday that, if elected president, he would build the controversial Keystone Pipeline linking oil deposits in Canada to refineries on the Texas gulf coast.
"I will build that pipeline if I have to do it myself," Romney said during a speech before state Republican Party leaders gathered at a retreat in Arizona. It was Romney's first major appearance before party officials as the party's presumptive presidential nominee. But Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, who was chairing the event, stopped short of formally endorsing the former Massachusetts governor as the GOP nominee, because Romney has not officially clinched the necessary number of delegates required to claim the nomination.
Romney, who took the stage to a standing ovation, delivered essentially the same speech he has given for the last two days, attacking President Barack Obama on everything from his handling of the economy to his policies on energy, health care and education.
"The president has failed," Romney said. He took specific aim at the Democratic Party's ties to labor unions, accusing Obama of putting union heads above the needs of the American people.
"That's where they get their money," Romney said. "And that's where they pay obedience." He accused Obama of setting the country back on foreign policy, including in the Middle East where he said the president had jeopardized the U.S.'s relationship with Israel. "We are not any closer to peace," Romney said.
Romney stayed away from hot-button issues in which he's come under fire from members of his party—including social issues like abortion. Instead, he kept his focus squarely on Obama. He told the audience he had met Obama at a dinner in Washington, D.C., about "four or five years ago." "I think he's a nice person," Romney said of Obama. "I just don't think we can afford him any longer."
MTW- There is only one thing I have to say about this. I know who I am voting for. Nobama, Nobiden in 2012.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy