WASHINGTON — The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives prepared for a Friday vote to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline that will help transport oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, but the bill still faces hurdles to final passage.
The House planned to begin debating the bill, which is expected to pass that chamber, on Thursday. The legislation would approve TransCanada Corp’s $8 billion pipeline, which has been in the works for six years.
Final approval of the pipeline would bring to an end grappling between supporters, who tout its job-creating potential, and environmentalists, who oppose encouraging Canada’s extraction of so-called dirty fuels. It would also be a blow to President Barack Obama if his Democrats joined Republicans to approve the pipeline.
The Senate could take up the bill next week, possibly on Tuesday. Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Mary Landrieu, a Democrat who is locked in a runoff election in Louisiana, led the effort to approve the bill in the Senate.
Two Senate aides said Landrieu does not yet have the 60 votes needed to withstand a possible filibuster. If the bill were to pass, it could set up a showdown with the White House.
Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett declined on Thursday to say whether Obama would sign a bill. “We’ve always taken a dim view of the legislative approach,” she said in an interview with MSNBC, echoing earlier White House comments. She said the White House had not seen the proposed bills.
If a bill passes and Obama vetoes it, Congress could move to override him, but a key portion of the pipeline project needs presidential approval because it crosses an international border.
Obama’s administration has been weighing whether to approve the project, which also faces a court challenge in Nebraska over the pipeline’s route.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that even Keystone supporters should oppose the bill because currently companies that produce tar sands oil do not have to contribute to an oil spill cleanup fund.
Conservatives, and even some Democrats and labor unions, have been heavily pressing the project as a way to create jobs and boost energy independence.
The rapid push for legislation this week follows the sweep by Republicans in the midterm congressional election earlier this month.