The U.S. Senate will likely vote today whether to take up legislation approving the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The House approved a measure last week (252-161) authorizing completion of the pipeline that would transport oil nearly 1,200 miles from the Canadian oil sands deposits across the U.S. border to Nebraska where it would connect with existing pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries.
Media reports indicate Keystone supporters are still one vote shy of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. West Virginia’s Joe Manchin is already on board, but Senator Jay Rockefeller appears less likely to join the majority. The office of the state’s senior Democrat said yesterday Rockefeller had not yet announced his position.
The primary motivator behind this Keystone vote is politics, more specifically the fate of Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. The Democrat incumbent is trying desperately to gain ground on Republican Bill Cassidy in next month’s runoff election. Louisiana supports the pipeline and Landrieu wants to demonstrate her Washington clout.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has complied with Landrieu’s wishes to try to keep the Democrats from losing even more ground from the election two weeks ago. Previously Reid blocked stand-alone Keystone bills from coming up for a vote.
After the political implications, the vote doesn’t have much to do with the price of oil. This will be more of a proxy vote on climate change.
A PolitiFact.com review of Keystone data found that the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said it “remains uncertain” whether the pipeline would increase global emissions, while a State Department review said no change is likely.
But that’s not the point for environmentalists. Global warming acolytes can make another stand against carbon fuels and in favor of green alternatives by rejecting the expansion of infrastructure that will ship “dirty” oil.
Keystone supporters have engaged in their own hyperbole, at times overestimating the number of jobs the pipeline would create. PolitiFact.com reports the State Department estimates 42,100 construction jobs, but only 50 positions after the pipeline is finished.
While the federal government has been dawdling over Keystone, the oil is finding other ways to market. Two new pipelines are being constructed to Canada’s Pacific Coast and railroad tanker transport of the oil into this country has increased dramatically.
Those developments are being driven by basic economics; willing consumers and suppliers will connect, even if they are halfway around the world from each other. Expanding economies that improve peoples’ lives thrive on cheap, dependable energy.
Today’s vote will be an indicator of whether the United States wants to participate in that global growth or continue down the Obama-led path of speculative alternatives in lieu of proven energy supplies.