The showdown over the Keystone XL will move to the Senate floor next Monday, with Republicans and Democrats girding up for a clash over the pipeline and climate change.
The Senate energy committee voted 13-9 on Thursday in favour of a bill that would force construction of the Keystone XL, moving the measure towards the Senate floor.
The committee vote all but ensures that the pipeline will be the first substantial order of business for the new Republican-controlled Congress.
It also sets the stage for an early clash between Congress and the White House over President Barack Obama’s environmental agenda.
The White House has said the president would veto any legislation that attempts to circumvent the process now under way in the Nebraska courts and the State Department.
Keystone supporters acknowledge they do not have the votes to override the president.
Democrats are hoping to use the Keystone debate to put Republicans on the spot about their views on climate change.
The bill passed by the energy committee had the support of all Republicans on the panel and one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
The White House has said it would veto the bill – and a similar measure in the house – at least until the State Department and the Nebraska state supreme court finish their deliberations on the project.
The court could rule as early as Friday on the pipeline’s proposed route across Nebraska.
The decision could help bring an end to the Keystone saga – although much still depends on Obama’s decision.
It has been more than six years since TransCanada Corporation first sought to transport crude from the tar sands of Alberta across the American heartland to refineries and ports on the Texas Gulf coast.
Along the way, the Keystone XL project – which would help expand production of one of the dirtiest of fossil fuels – has become an important symbol to campaigners on the dangers of climate change.
Republicans meanwhile claim the pipeline as critical to American energy security.
“It is fair to say that the country but also the world is watching the United States to see if we are ready to lead as a global energy superpower,” Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and chair of the Senate energy committee, said on Thursday. “I think the American people are ready but they continue to be blocked by this administration.”
Both positions will be up for debate next week, but Democrats are hoping to expose Republicans’ climate denial.
“Our kids are going to be asking us: ‘What were you guys thinking about? What were you doing? Did you not hear what the scientific community all over the world was saying that climate change is in fact that most environmental crisis facing this planet?’” Bernie Sanders told the energy committee.
The senator from Vermont, who votes with Democrats, is hoping to tack a rider to the Keystone bill that will ask the Senate to vote on whether climate change is real and caused by human activity.
Other Democrats opposed to Keystone are planning similar riders to slow the bill’s progress through the Senate – and expose the Republicans’ views on climate change.
A majority of Republicans in Congress deviate from the scientific consensus on climate change, and are opposed to actions curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
James Inhofe, the new leader of the Senate environment and public works committee, has dismissed climate change as a hoax.
Most of the Republican leadership denies the existence of climate change, including a majority of Republicans on the environment, energy and science committees, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress.
