Daily
Events... Pipeline
Clogged In Senate Recess
Wednesdays with Audrey Hudson 8-3-11
The
Democrat-controlled Senate fled
the Beltway Tuesday night for a five-week summer vacation without
taking action
on a number of bills sent over from the House including a measure to
expedite
the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.
The
36-inch pipeline would stretch
more than 1,600 miles from Alberta, Canada through several states and
into
Nederland, Texas.
The
House measure directs President
Barack Obama to make a decision by November, and is endorsed by several
labor
unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The
$7 billion project is privately
funded, and would create $20 billion in new spending in the U.S.
economy,
create nearly 120,000 jobs, and generate an estimated $600 million in
state and
local taxes along the pipeline route, according to the Teamsters Union.
“This
bipartisan bill has a simple and
straightforward objective -- set a schedule, coordinate that schedule,
and
execute a decision process,” said Rep. Lee Terry, the bill’s sponsor.
“The
more we delay this decision, the
more reliant we become on oil from countries in the Middle East. This
bill
means less reliance on foreign oil, more jobs, and an energy policy,
which
doesn’t rely on less-than-friendly foreign nations. We cannot afford
any more
delay,” Terry said.
The
measure passed the House last week
279-147, but supporters say they will have a harder time getting it
through the
Senate.
—
Audrey Hudson
Read
it at Daily Events
|