House passes Keystone XL bill; now, on to the Senate

From the Los Angeles Times:

WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled House on Wednesday passed a transportation bill that would advance the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, defying a White House veto threat and stoking an election-year fight over what Congress can do about gas prices.

The 293-127 vote to extend highway and transit funding through September sets up contentious negotiations with the Democratic-led Senate. The Senate rejected an effort to include the Canada-to-Texas pipeline project in its two-year $109-billion transportation bill.

The Obama administration also warned that the president’s advisors would recommend he veto the House bill, if it reaches his desk, because it "seeks to circumvent a long-standing and proven process for determining whether cross-border pipelines are in the national interest" and for assessing Keystone XL’s environmental impact.

That's odd. I seem to recall that this so-called "study" has been percolating for the past three years. One cannot draw any kind of conclusion in three years? If so, clearly, this is your federal government not at work -- in truth, your federal government in sloth. Witness the GSA.

An interesting note from the Demorat Camp:

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) called Republican assertions that the pipeline would bring down fuel prices “hooey."

"What’s going on here is political," he said.

"Political." Imagine that. As in Obama saying he will simply veto whatever crosses his desk. But when Mr Obama politicizes, that's not "politics." When Republicans do, that is "politics." As in refusing to even plan for the future of petroleum in America because -- after all -- petroleum is not going away.

A final note:

But Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., called the pipeline a scheme to export oil to China that will do little or nothing to lower gas prices in the U.S. He said most of the oil that arrives in Port Arthur winds up being exported.

Representative Markey is incorrect. We don't export oil. Our Number One export, this year and in 2011, has been refined gasoline, diesel and jet fuel -- not crude oil. The oil has been processed by the Chemical Coast refineries for shipping in export.

The Demorats would have you believe that instant energy conversion is possible. It is not. They would have you believe that once we're all in electric cars, we won't need oil any more. That is wrong. And the Demorats would have you believe that because we can't produce an immediate increase in oil yield by drilling and enabling pipelines and transportation, then attempting to do so now is pointless. That is also wrong.

It's a fight. And I'm not giving up.

BZ