API sees momentum for Keystone XL

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WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- Following backing from U.S. lawmakers, the American Petroleum Institute said there are no more excuses left for postponing the authorization of Keystone XL.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week, in a non-binding 261-152 vote, expressed support for the Keystone XL oil pipeline's inclusion in a transportation bill.

API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin, in a statement, said the support was a sign it was time to move forward on the project.

"We call on the president to seize this opportunity to better America's energy and economic future," he said.

TransCanada, the company behind the project, aims to build Keystone XL to facilitate movement of so-called tar sands oil from Canada to the southern U.S. coast. It had to propose an alternate route through Nebraska after lawmakers there objected to its course through a key drinking water aquifer.

Political news Web site The Hill reports that fewer Democrats are backing the measure. A version of the transportation bill in the Senate, controlled by Democrats, doesn't contain language about Keystone XL.

TransCanada needs a presidential permit for the project because it would cross the U.S.-Canadian border.