From Environment & Energy Daily

Natural Resources to approve pipeline legislation this week

Nick Juliano, E&E reporter

Published: Monday, April 22, 2013

A House bill to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline will continue its rapid progress to passage this week with the expected approval by another key committee.

The Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday will mark up the bill, H.R. 3, following its approval last week by the Energy and Commerce Committee. Senior House Republicans have said they expect the legislation to pass the full House before Memorial Day.


House Republicans have made the Alberta-to-Texas oil pipeline a central plank in their energy policy push this year, blaming the Obama administration for delays in approving the route. The State Department is in the middle of reviewing a proposed reroute of the pipeline through Nebraska and last week convened a lengthy public meeting to hear from pipeline detractors and supporters (E&E Daily, April 19).


Similar legislation was approved several times by the House last year but always died in the Senate. A nonbinding vote in the Senate last month put 62 lawmakers on record in favor of the pipeline, but the legislation nonetheless faces long odds in the upper chamber because of opposition from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who controls what bills come to the floor (Greenwire, March 25).


A number of moderate Democrats have joined Republicans in supporting the XL line. Four Democrats voted for the bill during last week's Energy and Commerce markup (E&ENews PM, April 17).


The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee also has jurisdiction over the bill but has not yet scheduled any hearings or markups.


Schedule: The markup is Wednesday, April 24, at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.