Thirty seven Senate Republicans proposed legislation Wednesday to accelerate approval of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, the second attempt by Congress to force the Obama administration to end the controversial permitting process.
Led by Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana, the lawmakers want to impose a 60-day deadline for the State Department either to approve the 1,700-mile pipeline or declare it against the national interest.
"The Keystone bill will stop the administration's delay tactics," Lugar said during a news conference with 10 of the bill's supporters at the US Capitol. "It falls within the jurisdiction of the Foreign Relations Committee, and I will push for the quickest possible consideration."
Lugar is the senior Republican on the committee. The bill faces a tough time in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
The State Department earlier this month reopened an environmental review of the project, putting off a final decision until at least 2013. The delay came after months of protests by tar sands opponents who threatened to use the issue to campaign against President Barack Obama ahead of the November 2012 election.
"The reason it's not moving forward is because the president has put his political agenda and his job ahead of jobs for American workers," Senator John Thune, Republican-South Dakota said. "It's purely and simply that. There is no other rational reason why the project should not be advancing."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell added that the move shows Obama's readiness to give up electoral votes from states along the route, while trying to "curry favor" with environmentalists.
The Senate bill, called the North American Energy Security Act, would declare the Department of State's final environmental impact statement to be adequate and establish congressional "affirmation that Keystone XL is good for job creation, economic growth and national security." Senators said it also would require the permit to "contain strong and specific environmental protections and protect states' rights."
Further, the bill would force the State Department to recognize an alternate route put forward by Nebraska lawmakers to avoid the sensitive Sand Hills region and force it to give TransCanada sufficient time to shift the right of way without delaying construction elsewhere.
Senator Mike Johanns, a Nebraska Republican, said the bill respects his state's process to protect the environmentally sensitive region while still providing a "commonsense approach to bring friendly oil and jobs to the US without unnecessary delay."
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican-Alaska, called Keystone opposition misguided because Canada will mine the Alberta oil sands regardless of whether America buys the oil. She said Obama's delay fails to protect the environment and hurts idled works and the economy.
"We need to be talking about North American energy sources," Murkowski said. "Why would we not go to our closest neighbor, our best ally when it comes to trade to provide a resource that we as a country will continue to need? To turn our back on Canada as this delay essentially did was a wrong step. It was misguided, and it was politics at its worst when people are counting on jobs and economic activity."
Several senators made note of news reports that the US has become a net energy exporter, while it remains a net crude importer. They said Keystone should be allowed to add to the amount of refined products the country sells overseas.
Lugar said he hopes there will be a hearing on the measure soon and that it advances to to the Senate floor either on its own or as an amendment to an existing bill.
If the State Department approves TransCanada's application, the $7 billion pipeline would transport heavy Canadian crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
The Senate bill comes four months after the House of Representatives easily passed legislation that would have forced the State Department to approve or deny the project by November 1. That bill did not get a vote in the Senate.
