GOP Rep. Terry: No more ‘finesse’ from Congress if Obama rejects pipeline

A leading House GOP advocate of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline wants Republicans to force approval of the project if President Obama denies a permit in the coming weeks.

Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) told The Omaha World-Herald that House lawmakers should discuss bringing out the big guns, legislatively speaking, in Energy and Commerce Committee talks about the matter this week.

“There's no more finesse left if he denies it,” Terry said. “I think you've got to just come straight out and say that Congress is going to legislate its approval.”

The Obama administration, under the payroll tax cut extension law enacted in December, has until Feb. 21 to make a decision on TransCanada Corp.’s proposed pipeline to bring oil sands crude from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries.

Across the Capitol, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) is already crafting legislation that would put the final decision on Keystone in the hands of Congress, not the White House.

Terry’s remarks, published Saturday, come as GOP lawmakers more broadly are weighing options to keep the project alive if Obama rejects it. Republicans are hoping to make the pipeline into a political liability for the president.

Terry, in the World-Herald story, said top members of the Energy Committee will meet Tuesday to discuss legislative options. Aides to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) did not provide immediate comment about looming talks.