Keystone passes House – Senate comes up short

Update from FoxNews.com:  A bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline failed in the Senate on Tuesday by just one vote, in a setback not only for the energy project but the politically imperiled Democratic senator who pushed the legislation.

The bill failed on a 59-41 vote. It needed 60 to pass.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Members of the Dakotas congressional delegation cheered the passage of a House bill on Friday that allows construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline to move forward.

Republican Reps. Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota, and Kristi Noem, of South Dakota, voted to advance the legislation. The House voted 252 to 161 overall in favor of the bill, with the Senate set to take a similar vote next week.

The Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline is currently under review by the Obama administration. Advocates say the administration has stalled on approving a project that it would improve the country’s oil transportation infrastructure, provide jobs and improve the country’s energy security. Opponents of the pipeline have said it would have potentially devastating environmental effects as it is currently planned and would not provide nearly the economic boost that its proponents say.

The pipeline would stretch through a western track in both North and South Dakota. In interviews on Friday, both of the state’s members of the House said they were happy to back the bill. Friday’s vote was the ninth time the House has considered a measure approving the pipeline.

    “I prefer Canada crude to Persian Gulf crude,” Cramer said.

He also touted the bill’s direct impact on North Dakota saying it would remove some of the pressure on the existing oil shipping infrastructure in the state’s fast-growing, western oil patch. He said it would also create jobs in parts of the state that would otherwise lack investment.

He said he didn’t mind that the vote came soon after an election – if anything, he said, it showed that lawmakers were responding to the results of elections that gave Republicans control of the Senate and further gains in the House.

“I’m not afraid to talk about the fact that this was a political vote,” he said. “It’s ok to show that voters changed our minds.”

He added, “whether it applies pressure or cover, that’s fine.”

Noem said the bill’s importance to South Dakota could not be understated: The proposed pipeline’s path swings through a part of western South Dakota that lacks a tax base for good schools and badly needs new jobs. She said she was glad to send a message to Obama and other opponents of the pipeline.

“South Dakota is really struggling,” she said. “A lot of our rail and roads are overcome with North Dakota oil and if we can get some of that through the pipeline it would be wonderful.”

Noem said she hoped House passage would help spur a decision on the pipeline from the Obama administration.

Obama “really has to make a decision,” she said. “He has been punting on this.”