Keystone Pipeline vote fails in Senate by one vote, Mary Landrieu snubbed
Senate Democrats stopped the Keystone XL pipeline legislation by just one vote, ending the latest battle between House Republicans and the White House.
Senator Mary Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, who is facing a runoff election Dec. 6, had pleaded with her colleagues throughout the debate, calling on support for the pipeline, which could have given her a boost with Louisana voters.
The bill failed with just 59 votes, needing 60 to proceed and force President Obama to veto the bill for Democrats to stop the project.
Environmentalists still claim the risk is too great while the GOP see this as a job creator and possible boon for oil production in the bayou.
“It’s time to make this turn. And there’s no better moment to make this turn than on this pipeline that would bring the filthiest fuel in the planet into circulation,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat.
Several Labor Unions have joined the Republicans on the Pipeline project, noting that the 2013 State Department investigation points to a safe project that will generate a lot of jobs.
“The majority of Democrats in the Senate and the White House just don’t get it, even though the recent election results surely should have sunk in by now. They have lost their way, their purpose and their base,” said Laborers’ International Union of North America President Terry O’Sullivan.
That data stated there would be no significant environmental impact to most resources along the proposed route from western Canada to refineries in Texas. The report also said other options to get the oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change.