State Dept Releases Keystone XL Study: Pipeline Reduces Greenhouse Gasses | House GOP Leaders Address Overhaul Of Immigration Laws

Today in Washington, D.C. - Jan 31, 2014
The Senate is not in session today and will reconvene at 2 PM on Monday. On Monday, the Senate will consider the conference report for H.R. 2642, the farm bill. A vote on cloture on the conference report is scheduled for 5:30 PM.  Yesterday, the Senate rejected 3 Republican amendments to S. 1926, the flood insurance bill, and then passed it by a vote of 67-32.

The House met in pro-forma session at 3 PM for 5 minutes. Otherwise the representatives are meeting according to their political party conference in annual policy retreats to discuss positions on various issues.

The Washington Times reports that "House Republican leaders have ruled out a special pathway to citizenship but do support granting some form of legal status and work permits to most illegal immigrants." Below is  the GOP Caucus Leadership Statement of Principles regarding the overhaul of immigration laws which has been "met with anger from the right. Conservative groups."

The State Department released its final environmental report on the Keystone XL pipeline. While knocking down a key argument of pipeline opponents—that blocking Keystone would stop Canada from developing oil sands, the report that NOT approving the pipeline would result in HIGHER greenhouse gas emissions.  Which appears to be double speak, to the left that they don't want to do this but we need to have the the XL Pipeline for the greater good of "reducing greenhouse gasses - one of the touchstones of the Global Warming environmentalists.

Sean Hackbarth writing for the U.S. Chamber noted. "Along with its environmental analysis, the report reaffirms the economic benefits from construction of the pipeline that were stated in the draft EIS:

42,100 new jobs. - $2 billion in earnings. - $3.4 billion added to U.S. GDP.

" .... Now, we’re in the National Interest Determination stage, where eight other federal agencies and the public can weigh in on whether approving the pipeline is in the nation’s national interest. Based on all that we know now about the jobs that will be created, the economic impacts, and its minimal effects on the environment, it’s clear that approving the Keystone XL pipeline is in America’s best interests."

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement today after the State Department issued its latest report on the Keystone XL Pipeline:  “President Obama is out of excuses.  The fact that he has let a final decision on the Keystone pipeline project – and the more than 100,000 jobs that come with it – languish for more than five years is economic malpractice.  Middle-class families and small businesses continue to struggle in this economy, and the president’s refusal to back this job-creating project is hurting our economy.  If President Obama wants to make this a ‘year of action’ he will stand up to the extreme Left in his own party, stand with the overwhelming majority of American people, and approve this critical project.”

NOTE:  On May 22, 2013, the House passed the bipartisan Northern Route Approval Act (H.R. 3), legislation introduced by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) that approves the Keystone pipeline and eliminates legal and regulatory barriers to its construction and the tens of thousands of jobs it will create.  The Senate has refused to take up the bill.

CNN reported last night, “The results of an environmental impact study into the Keystone XL pipeline project will be announced Friday afternoon, two senior administration officials and another source familiar with the timing told CNN. . . . ‘The (study) is in the final stages of preparation and we anticipate a release of the document soon,’ a State Department spokesperson told CNN. ‘As a reminder when it is released, (the study) is not a decision, but another step in the process prescribed by the Executive Order’ from the President.”

The Obama administration has been studying and stalling this project for years. Last week, all 45 Senate Republicans wrote to the president, “On March 14, 2013, at a meeting with Senate Republicans, you were asked when we could expect a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. At that time, you told us that a decision on the Presidential Permit would be made before the end of the year. We are well into 2014 and you still have not made a decision. . . . Given the length of time your administration has studied the Keystone XL pipeline and the public’s overwhelming support for it, you should not further delay a decision to issue a Presidential Permit.”

But even with the report’s expected release today, CNN notes, “[T]he process is far from over. Once the results of the study are out, eight U.S. agencies will then comb through it and offer their feedback. Secretary of State John Kerry will make a final recommendation to the White House. The president would then decide whether or not to approve the construction of the pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast.”

Bloomberg News suggest that the conclusions of the State Department study will be little changed from one the agency released nearly a year ago. “The U.S. State Department is preparing a report that will probably disappoint environmental groups and opponents of the Keystone pipeline, according to people who have been briefed on the draft of the document. While the report will deviate from a March draft in some ways to the liking of environmentalists, the changes won’t be as sweeping as they had sought, several people familiar with the government’s deliberations over the review told Bloomberg News. . . . The March report concluded that the Canada-U.S. oil pipeline would have only a minimal impact on carbon emissions, because the oil sands in Alberta will be developed anyway. Several people briefed on the findings, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said they expect the final report will track that conclusion. . . . TransCanada applied more than five years ago for a permit to build the pipeline through the U.S. heartland, connecting the oil sands with refineries along the coast of Texas and Louisiana. . . . ‘The president has had five years of inaction on the Keystone XL pipeline,’ Brian Straessle, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, a Washington-based representative for the oil industry, said. ‘If 2014 is really his ‘year of action,’ he should start by approving Keystone.’”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said following President Obama’s State of the Union address, “For all his talk of phones and pens, he didn’t even mention using his pen to sign off on the Keystone Pipeline. It’s the single simplest action he could’ve taken to create jobs. And it’s a project that would’ve created thousands of jobs right away. And it still can, if the President will just lead. Unions support it. Prominent members of his party support it. The American people overwhelmingly support it. But there’s one small group that doesn’t support it: powerful special interests on the far-Left.”

The president and his administration have stalled this project for far far too long. Keystone XL is supported by a majority of Americans, supported by unions, supported by Democrats, is an actually “shovel-ready” way to create jobs and would help reduce American dependence on oil from the Middle East. Will President Obama finally make the decision to support jobs and energy or will he once again side with the far Left?

---

Tags: State Dept Report, XL Keystone Pipeline, House Republicans, Overhaul Of Immigration Laws To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!