Keystone Bill Deserves Veto

WASHINGTON (January 29, 2015) – The Republican-controlled Senate today passed legislation to force approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, a bill that will be dead-on-arrival at the White House. But the weeks-long, misguided congressional attempt to usurp presidential authority did not go entirely to waste.

The following is a statement by Danielle Droitsch, director of the Canada Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“When this bill reaches the White House, it will draw a richly deserved presidential veto:  Congress is not a permitting authority. The president should follow up his veto by rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, a pipeline that would worsen climate change and threaten U.S. waters, largely to enable the export of oil to other countries. 

“The only positive aspect of this debate has been that some amendments did put senators on the record on issues that truly matter – starting with climate change. Five Republican senators broke with their leadership to acknowledge that man-made climate change is happening and is a threat to public health and our environment. Now those senators, and their Republican colleagues, need to agree to do something about the problem instead of simply opposing the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan.”