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(by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason, YahooNews.com) WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Democrats on Thursday defeated a Republican proposal to give a permit to the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline in a vote that will give Republicans more ammunition to criticize President Barack Obama’s energy policies on the campaign trail. Republicans argue the pipeline, which would ship oil from Canada and northern states to Texas, would create jobs and improve energy security at a time of surging gasoline prices.
[President] Obama put TransCanada’s $7 billion project on hold earlier this year pending further environmental review. He [then] took the unusual step of calling some senators personally ahead of the vote, asking them to reject the proposal.“He understood that a majority of the American public, a majority at least in the Senate, are strongly in favor of this project,” said Senator Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, who sponsored the bill to take control of the pipeline decision away from Obama.
The Republicans tried to advance their plan as an amendment to a highway funding bill. It failed on a vote of 56-42, four short of the 60 needed to pass*, although 11 Democratic senators voted with the Republicans. …
“We’re going to continue this fight,” said Republican Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, who championed the bill. … “With gas prices going up every day, with what’s going on in the Middle East, I’ll tell you what: the pressure is just going to increase on the [Obama] administration to get this project done,” Hoeven said. …..
The Keystone amendment was among 30 measures – many of them energy-related – being voted on as the Senate pushes in coming days to renew funding for highways and other infrastructure projects, slated to run out at the end of March.
Earlier, the Senate defeated proposals to expand the area available for offshore oil drilling and extend the time for manufacturers to phase in new pollution regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for industrial boilers.
But the Keystone amendment attracted the most attention. The pipeline would carry crude from Canadian oil sands to Texas refineries and would also pick up U.S. crude from North Dakota and Montana along the way.
Environmental groups have fought the project, staging large protests last year that pressured the Obama administration to block approval.
…Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, said in a statement: “We’re grateful to the administration for denying the permit and for Senate leadership for holding the line.” [Jeremy Symons of the National Wildlife Federation said “We are pleased the Senate stood up to oil giants and sided with the American public.” NOTE: A Pew Research Center poll last month found 66% of Americans who have heard about the issue say the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries should be approved, while 23% say it shouldn’t.] …
Democratic senators who voted for the Republican Keystone plan included Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Jim Webb of Virginia. [The voters in these states support the construction of the pipeline, therefore these Democrats might have risked losing in their next election if they had voted against the pipeline.]
Two Republican senators were absent, and all the 45 who were present voted for the amendment. [The two absent Republican senators include Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois who is recovering from a recent stroke, and North Dakota Senator John Thune, whose mother passed away the day before the vote.]
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. Visit ca.news.yahoo.com/keystone-oil-pipeline-bill-fails-senate-000638747.html for the original post.
*NOTE: For an ordinary bill to pass each chamber or house of the U.S. congress, it needs a simple majority of yea votes which would be 50% + 1 vote. In the Senate, ordinarily there are a total of 100 seated Senators. 50% of 100 is 50. A simple majority is 50% + 1, thus the fewest yea votes required for an ordinary bill to pass the Senate is 51.
The Senate has the ability to bring things to a standstill with a filibuster. Historically, a filibuster would take the form of a group of Senators agreeing to prevent a bill from passing by preventing it from ever coming up for a vote. They would prevent the vote from taking place by talking about the bill. …if [a senator] lost the floor [during his filibuster] to someone not opposed to the bill, that person could simply call for the vote to take place. However, if enough Senators have agreed to continue to filibuster, they could prevent the vote from taking place indefinitely by reading from the phone book and yielding the floor only to one another. … The only way to stop the endless proposal and debate of amendments to a particular bill and bring it to an immediate vote is with a successful vote of cloture. For such a vote to be successful, it must be supported by three fifths of the seated Senators which would be 60. (from wiki answers)
Questions
1. a) What proposal, supported by Senate Republicans, did Senate Democrats defeat on Thursday?
b) How many Democratic senators voted with the Republicans on this proposal?
2. What percent of Americans who know about the pipeline debate think it should be approved, according to the latest Pew poll?
3. What other proposals up for a vote did the Democratic controlled Senate defeat on Thursday?
4. What special interest groups oppose the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline?
5. Read previous articles about the pipeline under “Resources” below.
The debate over the construction of the pipeline is between those who say the Canadan oil is dirty and it could harm the environment, and those who say: it won’t cause any significant damage to the environment, it is more important to acquire more of our oil from friendly countries like Canada, and it will create thousands of needed jobs. Which side do you support? Explain your answer.
Background
From a Bloomberg News editorial posted 9/26/11:
- In deciding whether to allow Keystone XL to run through six American states, the only relevant question is whether it would be safe. The State Department, with help from the Environmental Protection Agency, has studied the risks. It has determined that, as long as TransCanada complies with all laws and regulations, builds Keystone XL properly and operates it safely (although some minor spills would be expected), the pipeline would have “no significant impacts” on wetlands, water supplies or wildlife along its route.
- Keep in mind, the U.S. is crisscrossed by thousands of miles of pipelines carrying crude oil, liquid petroleum and natural gas. One of these is the Keystone 1 pipeline, which already carries crude from the oil sands. Yes, these pipes sometimes leak — spectacularly last year when almost 850,000 gallons of oil spilled from a ruptured pipe in Michigan. Far more often, when leaks occur, they are small and self-contained.
- Pipeline opponents have implied that if the U.S. doesn’t buy Canada’s oil, then companies will be discouraged from developing the oil sands. But it’s unrealistic to assume that the oil couldn’t be sold elsewhere. Yes, today’s business plan calls for sending most of it south — some 700,000 barrels a day through Keystone XL. If the U.S. blocks that conduit, though, we can reasonably expect that another pipeline would be built to Canada’s west coast, where the oil could be sent by tanker to China and elsewhere.
Daily “Answers” emails are provided for Daily News Articles, Tuesday’s World Events and Friday’s News Quiz.
