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House GOP, citing North African turmoil, boosts Keystone pipeline pressure on Obama
A mostly Republican group of House lawmakers is putting fresh pressure on President Obama to greenlight the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, and a senior member said that another Capitol Hill hearing could be in the offing.
“In light of the recent events in North Africa, we need to be investing in energy infrastructure to control our own resources. We need to be able to move resources, not only from Canada, but from the many domestic shale plays that have recently come on line. We need to make our country energy independent,” states a new pro-Keystone letter to Obama from 146 House members, including 14 Democrats.
The letter, an apparent reference to recent militants’ attacks on energy infrastructure in Algeria, follows a pro-Keystone letter from more than half the Senate to Obama last week.
Signatures on the new House letter include House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), two of Upton’s top lieutenants on the panel.
Upton, in an interview with a Michigan radio station Tuesday, suggested he’ll continue using his chairmanship to raise the pipeline’s profile.
“We are going to be looking at some hearings and perhaps legislation as well to try and move this process along a little bit faster,” he told WHTC.
His committee held hearings on the project in the last Congress, and the House approved legislation to mandate approval, but it didn't advance in the Senate.
Major business groups and a number of unions support the proposed pipeline, but environmental groups strongly oppose it, arguing it furthers development and reliance on carbon-intensive oil sands projects.
