WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Monday previewed their lines of attack against legislation by Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will take up the legislation Tuesday during what promises to be a lengthy session. Committee members delivered their opening statements Monday, with both sides hitting various pros and cons of the project.
Republicans focused on the $7 billion project's impact on job creation and energy security, while Democrats talked more about the potential environmental risks.
The 1,700-mile pipeline would transport tar sands oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he'll offer an amendment Tuesday that would require the oil traveling through the pipeline to remain in the United States. He pointed out that TransCanada officials have said they can't guarantee the oil won't be exported.
Republicans point to a Department of Energy analysis that it's unlikely Canadian oil sands that reach Texas will be exported.
Terry said TransCanada is simply transporting the oil and has no control over what its customers do with the oil. Although some of the oil might be refined into diesel and shipped to Europe, he said the vast majority of the oil is likely to stay in the United States.
"To sit there and say that because a couple percent is exported that we're going to shut down 100 percent is asinine," Terry said.
Terry said he has drawn up an amendment to address concerns raised by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management that Terry's proposal would eliminate their role in the review process. The Corps reviews pipelines when they cross rivers, while the bureau negotiates rights-of-way when pipelines cross federal lands.
Terry's bill would transfer authority over the pipeline to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and require FERC to approve the project within 30 days.
Terry said his amendment makes it clear the only authority being handed to FERC is regarding the presidential permit.
The Obama administration rejected the project last month, saying it did not have enough time for the necessary review work before a Feb. 21 deadline that Republicans included in the payroll tax cut extension. Pipeline opponents point out that while TransCanada has agreed to move the pipeline out of the Sand Hills, it has yet to identify the new route.
Bold Nebraska, which opposes the pipeline, is set to unveil a new online campaign Tuesday aimed at highlighting what the group describes as "flip-flopping" on the pipeline issue by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican.
Republicans say that after more than three years of review, it's time to get construction started and that their proposals include exemptions for the ongoing process of finding a new Nebraska route.
It's unclear whether Terry's bill stands any chance of winning approval by the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. House Republicans could try attaching it to the next payroll tax cut extension or an infrastructure bill.
Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., told reporters Monday that the pipeline should be approved and that it appears Congress will have to step in to make that call, while taking the Nebraska process into consideration.
Smith cited looming spikes in gasoline prices.
"I hear from Nebraskans all the time who are far more anxious to get our oil from Canada than from Saudi Arabia or some other countries in the Middle East," Smith said.
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