Category: Pipelines

The Keystone XL pipeline has been on the drawing board for years. Photo: Amy Harder/The Wall Street Journal The Keystone XL pipeline has been under review by the U.S. government for more than six years. President Barack Obama could make a decision on the project in the coming weeks, though he faces no deadline. You’ve probably heard about this pipeline, but how much do you actually know about it? Take this quiz to find out. 1. What company is proposing to build the pipeline? a. ExxonMobil b. TransCanada c. EnergyFirst d. Enbridge Answer: B. TransCanada, of Calgary, Alberta, first announced it was going to build Keystone in 2008. 2. Approximately how many gallons of oil a day are proposed to ship through the pipeline? a. 35 million b. 830,000 c. 255 million d. 50 million Answer: A. By comparison, the U.S. consumes about 800 million gallons of oil a […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

Our mental snapshot of the politics of the Keystone XL pipeline is pretty straightforward — Republicans and most independents want it built; so do some Democrats, but most Democrats and the environmental left are opposed. A new study in Energy Policy, though, suggests that this assumption about pipeline politics mainly holds on the national level — but not so much locally. Rather, the research finds, as you get closer to living near the proposed pipeline route, liberals and conservatives look less different in their views — and liberals as a whole become more in favor of the pipeline. The result suggests that anti-pipeline advocates may be losing the framing war to those who endlessly cite the pipeline’s alleged economic benefits. The research , conducted by Timothy Gravelle of the University of Essex and Erick Lachapelle of the University of Montreal, drew upon data from a series of three large Pew polls of […]

Click here to view full article at www.washingtonpost.com

U.S. President Barack Obama. Photographer: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Pool via Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Facing re-election and $4 a gallon gasoline, President Barack Obama sounded like an enthusiastic supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline at a March 2012 campaign rally. “I’m directing my administration to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority,” he said in a speech in Cushing, Oklahoma, referring to a southern leg of the long-delayed project. Those days are gone. Now when Obama describes the next proposed Keystone segment he says it will only create about 300 jobs. He calls the Calgary-based pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. a “foreign company” and says the oil won’t benefit American motorists. And last week, he even said the process of extracting crude from the Alberta oil sands is “extraordinarily dirty.” After years of review, Obama may be finally nearing a decision on the $8 […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

ENLARGE Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said construction of the Keystone pipeline would pump billions into the U.S. economy. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News WASHINGTON—The Senate Wednesday defeated a Republican-led effort to override President Barack Obama’s veto of legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline , the latest twist in a yearslong saga over the contentious project. In a 62-37 vote, the Senate didn’t get the required 67 yes votes necessary to override Mr. Obama’s veto of the bill, which would have authorized a Canadian company to construct the 1,179-mile pipeline. The project has been under review by the Obama administration for more than six years. Mr. Obama vetoed the legislation, not the pipeline itself. The administration retains the ultimate decision. The pipeline, which would carry up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day mostly from Canada’s oil sands to existing pipelines in Steele City, Neb., crosses an international […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

LONDON (Reuters) – "Because this act of Congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest – including our security, safety and environment – it has earned my veto." With those words, the president returned the Keystone pipeline authorization act (S.1) to the Senate unsigned, and challenged lawmakers to find the two-thirds majorities in both houses needed to enact the law without his approval, something that remains unlikely. But by citing established procedures and the need not to short cut a thorough examination of the issues, after more than six years of environmental reviews, the president’s staff demonstrated they have absolutely no sense of irony and a deeply cynical approach to governing. The president’s advisers insist the administration has not yet taken a decision on the merits of the pipeline and is still waiting for the State […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Tuesday swiftly delivered on his vow to veto a Republican bill approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, leaving the long-debated project in limbo for another indefinite period. The Senate received Obama’s veto message and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately countered by announcing the Republican-led chamber would attempt to overturn the veto by March 3. Obama rejected the bill hours after it was sent to the White House. Republicans passed the bill to increase pressure on Obama to approve the pipeline, a move the president said would bypass a State Department process that will determine whether the project is in the U.S. national interest. "Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest," Obama wrote in his veto message. Republicans, […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

ENLARGE President Barack Obama vetoed the Keystone XL legislation on the grounds that it would have bypassed the State Department’s review process. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have approved the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that is a top priority for congressional Republicans and a touchstone issue for environmentalists and the nation’s booming energy industry. The bill would have authorized Canadian company TransCanada Corp. to construct the 1,179-mile pipeline, which has been under review by the Obama administration for more than six years. The bill, which declared the pipeline to have satisfied environmental laws, passed the GOP-controlled Congress earlier this year. White House officials said in early January that Mr. Obama would veto the legislation because it would have bypassed a continuing review process at the State Department, which has authority over cross-border pipelines like Keystone. Mr. Obama vetoed the legislation, not […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

A worker walks through the TransCanada Corp. Houston Lateral Project pipe yard in Mont Belvieu, Texas. TransCanada proposed the original line to link the oil sands and U.S. refineries in 2006. It was approved with zero fanfare less than two years later on Feb. 28, 2008, under President George W. Bush. Photographer: Scott Dalton/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL bill is the latest sign to pipeline opponents that he’s prepared to reject a project he said won’t create many jobs or reduce U.S. oil prices. Obama rejected the Republican-backed bill because it interfered with a review being led by the State Department, though he hasn’t decided whether to approve a permit for the pipeline, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday. Pipeline backers in Congress may seek to attach Keystone to other bills that the president supports. Republicans don’t have the votes to override […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Mr. Obama, shown here signing, rather than vetoing, legislation, was spared having to wield the veto pen when Democrats controlled the Senate 2009-2014. Getty Images President Barack Obama ’s veto of Keystone XL pipeline bill was just the third veto of his presidency and the first legislation he has rejected since 2010. Mr. Obama’s statement saying legislation that would have approved the pipeline project “has earned my veto” was a rarity for a president who has wielded his veto pen fewer times than any U.S. leader in more than a century. James Garfield , who never used the power of the veto and who was assassinated in 1881 after less than a year in office, was the last president to veto fewer bills than Mr. Obama. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the high-water mark with a total of 635 vetoes. Mr. Obama’s predecessor, Republican  George W. Bush , vetoed […]

Click here to view full article at blogs.wsj.com