Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

House: Politics out of Keystone debate

|
|
 
  
Published: Feb. 8, 2012 at 8:34 AM
Advertisement

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A measure, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, takes politics out of a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, a committee said.

U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., wrote the bill that a Republican-led energy committee said "takes politics out of the pipeline decision" by handing authority to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The bill requires FERC to approve a permit for the Keystone XL within 30 days if a permit from pipeline company TransCanada is considered in compliance with a federal environmental impact statement.

"The benefits of the pipeline are clear -- job creation, lower gasoline prices and greater energy security for America," the House Energy and Commerce Committee said in a statement.

Critics of Keystone XL say backers exaggerate benefits of the project. The House committee defeated a Democratic measure that would ensure Keystone XL would service the domestic U.S. market.

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said during his testimony that Terry's measure turns FERC into a "yes-man" for the project. Officials in the U.N. Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the Office of Energy Projects had testified that FERC doesn't have authority to approve pipeline permits.

The House measure is unlikely to pass through the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Republican leaders inserted a Keystone XL rider into a measure extending payroll benefits, though the White House objected to the measure saying it imposed an "arbitrary" deadline on the pipeline.

Topics: U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman
Recommended Stories
© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala Indianapolis 500
BAFTA awards Golden Gate Bridge turns 75 Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Energy Resources Stories
1 of 25
President Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Washington
View Caption
President Barack Obama awards the the Presidential Medal of Freedom to singer/songwriter Bob Dylan during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House in Washington on May 29, 2012. The Medal of Freedom is our NationÕs highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
fark
Protip: Your robbery has the best chance of success if it isn't in front of a police station
Snake-handling Pentecostal minister, the son of a snake-handling Pentecostal minister who died from...
Eighty-five percent of senior U.S. drivers rate their driving as excellent or good, and will happily...
Working 9 to 5 decreases your chances of breast cancer; increases confusion between Skinny n Sweet...
Desperate car thieves steal a 1976 Ford Pinto. How desperate? The Pinto had four flats and wouldn't...
Best. Senior. Prank. Ever