Ag Policy Blog

Spinning the message following votes in Congress has always been a part of the American political scene, and that was no different Tuesday night. The U.S. Senate fell one vote short on a bill to force the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, 59-41, and of course both sides in the debate claimed victory.

Despite the Obama administration's continued delay in making a final decision on the permit to build the pipeline, public opinion polls continue to show building support for Keystone and even in a Democrat-controlled Senate the vote clearly reflects bipartisan support.

The likely scenario is the new Republican-controlled Senate will pass a bill sometime early in 2015. But anything short of a veto-proof majority of 67 votes simply means the administration would likely continue to delay action on the project or outright reject the permit despite years of study and U.S. State Department analysis supporting the pipeline's construction.

In the coming weeks the Nebraska Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on a case challenging the process used to approve a new Keystone route. If the court rules in favor of the Nebraska landowners and environmentalists that the state process went overboard, then the project could be back to square one. At that point TransCanada would need to restart the process in the state to follow the court's ruling, which could mean either the same route is eventually approved or a new route would need to be identified.

A 2001 analysis of oil spill trends by Environmental Research Consulting reports that since 1985 U.S. pipelines had spilled more oil than tankers and barges combined. However, the same report said the annual number of pipeline spills has decreased by about 500% in the last 30 years, http://tinyurl.com/…

Here is a sample of the reaction to the Senate vote coming from all sides:

Russ Girling, president and chief executive officer of TransCanada, said his company will continue to stay the course on the project. "Today's vote in the U.S. Senate demonstrates a growing and high level of support for Keystone XL both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. We have also seen this in new public opinion polls with two-thirds of Americans calling for the project's approval. Senators Mary Landrieu and John Hoeven are to be commended for leading a bipartisan coalition in support of a legislative solution to the protracted regulatory process Keystone XL has languished in for six years... We will continue to push for reason over gridlock, common sense over symbolism and solid science over rhetoric to approve Keystone XL and unlock its benefits for America."

American Petroleum Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Gerard said the Senate's failure to pass the bill ignored "the will of the American people" on election day. "A handful of senators blocked a long overdue decision on KXL defying the will of the American people. Instead of seizing a rare bipartisan opportunity to help American workers and strengthen our energy security, a few senators returned to politics as usual. This is not what the electorate voted for two weeks ago and it doesn't bode well for future bipartisanship."

U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said in a statement that, "While Senate Republicans have spent the last six years working to get the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline approved, Senate Democrats have done all they can to block it. It's disappointing that not until the job of one of their own was on the line did they finally lift their objection to voting on the pipeline. Even after all of the theatrics, a majority of Democrats still voted to block this common-sense, job-creating project.

"This fight is far from over. One of the first priorities of the new Republican majority next Congress will be to send the president a bill that approves the Keystone XL pipeline."

Environmental groups touted the defeat of the bill as sending a message to pipeline supporters.

"The bill would have turned Congress into a permitting authority, overriding environmental law, and giving a green light to a pipeline project that would worsen climate change and threaten water quality," Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. "The Senate did the right thing to reject the misguided bill, and now the president should do the right thing and reject the pipeline."

Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club called the Senate vote a "big polluter-funded sideshow."

"There's no good reason the Senate should have wasted all this time on yet another meaningless push for Keystone XL," he said in a statement. "Since day one, the decision on the pipeline has belonged to President Obama, and he has repeatedly said he will reject this pipeline if it contributes to the climate crisis."

League of Conservation Voters Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld said Keystone's fate always has belonged in the administration's hands.

"We're more confident than ever that this pipeline will never be built," he said. "The decision remains right where it belongs –- with President Obama and Secretary Kerry."

Bold Nebraska's Jane Kleeb said the defeat of the bill should send a signal to the next Republican Congress.

"Today's defeat of Keystone XL should send a strong signal to the incoming GOP-led Congress that farmers and ranchers will never back down to their oil-soaked intentions. We call on President Obama to stand up and reject Keystone XL now," she said.

James T. Callahan, general president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, said in a statement that the Senate had rejected the will of the American people.

"Tonight, we have once again witnessed partisan warfare in Washington thwart the will of the people," he said. "By failing to pass the Keystone XL pipeline bill, lawmakers made clear that they are more concerned about covering their own political backsides, and that of the president, than getting things done on behalf of working people in this country.

"Many of the same politicians that promoted job creation and increasing wages just weeks ago in their campaigns, today voted to deny thousands of highly-skilled, under-employed construction workers a chance to earn a real paycheck while building a critical piece of our energy infrastructure."

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